The Little Things (Page 2)

Keep it simple.  Do not forget your essentials though.  I was at a race once where a guy forgot his shoes.... ouche.  Go to the prerace talk, might as well you have to be there the day before anyway.  Nail your nutrition and hydration, keep to the pace you have practiced.  I actually needed a tiny bit more calories on the run for IM than I did for an open mary, not much, like 150-200 calories total.  Don't overhydrate on the run or you get cramps, but don't blow off your hydration either.  If you are going to use porta poties try to figure out how far away they are before you are tooo despirate for one and then see if there is a line and you can hold out for the next one if there are like 10 people there.  Or you have the other option. 

In the IM run for me mile 10 felt like mile 20 in an open mary, but the training will cary you through.  My IM run finish was actually stronger than my first open mary finish (although the run itself was 20 mintues slower).  There will probably come a time in the run where you are debating whether to continue running or to walk.  If you do not have an injury, you can probably keep going, but that depends on your training.  There is some HTFU to run the whole IM mary, espeicially if it is your first. 

After a long race I need fluids, calories and then I need warm dry clothes within the next 30 minutes or my temperature starts to drop in the sweaty clothes.  Have that change close by. 

There really isn't any way to describe what crossing that finish line feels like to anyone who hasn't done it.  It is like flying for the first time, but more gratifying.