Had my first race nightmare!

WandaVaughn
WandaVaughn Posts: 420 Member
edited November 18 in Fitness and Exercise
First I dreamed I had trouble finding a good shirt to wear while running, then once I started running, I looked down and saw cleats on my feet! The worst part was running until I saw what I thought was the finish line. I passed it and went to get a water bottle. Somebody asked why I was there. They pointed out that the first finishers were approaching the real finish line. My heart sank. I'd messed up my race. There was no time to restart. I started running away. The sky got dark. Night. And I found myself in a sketchy neighborhood. I woke up before I could get beat up.
Analyze that! :smiley:

Replies

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,692 Member
    I am a long distance cyclist who has participated in a lot of long distance cycling events.

    I get similar nightmares as what you describe a few times each year ... sometimes every couple weeks for a while.

    In the dream, I'm on a 1000 km or 1200 km or longer timed event. These events have quite tight time limits. There isn't a lot of time for things like eating, sleeping, or fussing about and not riding.

    But in the dream, I've reached about the 400 km point, where I would sleep on a real event, and when I get there, I discover I'm missing stuff like essential pieces of clothing or tools, or I doddle over eating for some reason, or I oversleep ... something goes wrong every time in the dream. And usually I feel like I'm moving in slow motion but with a desperate sense of urgency to get going already. Sometimes I do get on the road again, but I'm so far behind time there's hardly any hope of making it up ... other times I don't get on the road again. But at that point I usually wake feeling rather disheartened and frustrated.

    Drives me crazy!!
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
    lporter229 wrote: »
    Prior to my first marathon, I dreamed that I ran off the course and got lost. For some reason, I was carrying a pyrex pan of lasagna. I have no idea...

    OMG, even in your dreams you do carb loading!
  • WandaVaughn
    WandaVaughn Posts: 420 Member
    I only wish my silly dream had yummy lasagna in it! :smiley:
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    edited May 2017
    I haven't had a race nightmare, thankfully my only dream I had about racing I PBed it!

    Are you nervous about your race??
  • WandaVaughn
    WandaVaughn Posts: 420 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Are you nervous about your race??

    A little, and I'm not sure why.

    My last race (my first ever race) was in November of 2015. 2016 was a bust, healthwise, including a total hysterectomy. I began training in February and now I'm facing tomorrow. Madonna comes to mind...."like a virgin..." It feels like a first race.

    I know I can go the distance. I'm not racing to win a prize, I'm racing for myself. But I'm still a little nervous.

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    WandaVaughn wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Are you nervous about your race??

    A little, and I'm not sure why.

    My last race (my first ever race) was in November of 2015. 2016 was a bust, healthwise, including a total hysterectomy. I began training in February and now I'm facing tomorrow. Madonna comes to mind...."like a virgin..." It feels like a first race.

    I know I can go the distance. I'm not racing to win a prize, I'm racing for myself. But I'm still a little nervous.

    I get crazy nervous before races, no idea why. I have a half on Sunday and am starting to feel the nerves even though my training has been spot on.

    What distance are you running?
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Sounds like one of my dreams! :o
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Hey, now you know what not to do during your race :)

    In reality, though, people do sometimes get off course. That doesn't always go the way you might expect. A friend and I recently ran a 3/4 marathon two person relay. She ran the first half, which was about 1.5 loops around the course, and then I was supposed to take over for the second half. I was watching her pace on the race app and was really confused when it said she'd finished her 10-ish miles in about 35 minutes. Yup...they'd directed her to the finish line at the end of her first half lap. She was really frustrated about it, but she went back out and finished the race. Luckily the finish line wasn't too far off the loop.

    On the other hand...the same friend and her husband once ran a race together. He would usually walk or run/walk shorter distances and wasn't really interested in training to run. She did the half marathon and he signed up for the 5k. He realized when he passed mile marker 4 that he'd missed the turn for the 5k, but he decided to keep going. So he finished the half marathon (with some foot pain, because he hadn't trained for it!) and that's how he decided that he wanted to train for the next one.
  • WandaVaughn
    WandaVaughn Posts: 420 Member
    TavistockToad - I'm running a 5K. (just recently started the Bridge210K app)

    apullum - Oh no! This happens in real life! Please tell me that you weren't wearing cleats, though! :smiley:
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    WandaVaughn wrote: »
    TavistockToad - I'm running a 5K. (just recently started the Bridge210K app)

    apullum - Oh no! This happens in real life! Please tell me that you weren't wearing cleats, though! :smiley:

    Exciting! You'll be fine. And if you're working up to 10k, 5 will be a breeze!

    Good luck!
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    I wasn't wearing cleats...that time :)
  • WandaVaughn
    WandaVaughn Posts: 420 Member
    Ran my race!

    Time was 36:31. Guess I have numbers to look at now.
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