December 1st, 2013

Typically, a Tip of the Week column from a run specialty store would offer advice on how to improve training, racing or general running/walking techniques. This week, I’m offering a tip on what not to do.  “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.  And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”  Randy Pausch

I learned what not to do/this lesson, despite having years of running experience and just knowing better.  In July of 1986, I was in Nice, France, to run the Nikaia Track Meet.  I had been running for fourteen years, six of them as a professional.  My friend Vince “The Bhagwan” Draddy was entered in the 5000, and I was in the mile.  The meet was to be held in the evening, so we had all day to relax, eat and wander through town.  Vince was a vegetarian, and he extolled the virtues of his diet, especially eating plenty of fruit.  I always ate whatever was put in front of me, including the rabbit we were offered for lunch the day before.    

Perhaps it was the views along the Nice beaches, but something disengaged my brain and I started listening to Vince and eating more fruit, starting about 36 hours before the race.  You’re reading this and thinking, who does that?  Twenty six years later, I’m still wondering, “what was I thinking?”

Race day morning I was up and in the bathroom before my morning run . . . and after my morning run . . . and three more times before my race that evening. Total lethargy set in.  It was all I could do to stay awake, get to the track and warm up.  Not only was I exhausted from my fruit-induced enema, I now had to run against an international class field in the mile.    

Fortunately, the race was slow through the 1200 and I found myself still in it with a lap to go.  But I knew my day of reckoning was to come; it was just a matter of when.  And at the bell, it came.  The bottom, so to speak, fell out.  I was done.  No kick, no extra gear, I was running on empty.  The bananas, strawberries, melons, grapes, kiwi fruits, and possibly the rabbit, had taken their toll.  If I remember correctly, the winner ran his last lap five seconds faster than me.  An embarrassing finish, but what could I expect?  I had no one to blame but myself for such a crazy lapse in judgment.

So this week’s tip: Don’t do stupid stuff when you know better.  Don’t pee on the side of the house instead of coming in and using the bathroom*; don’t throw pinecones at the neighbor lady when she’s gardening in her backyard*, and don’t change your diet the day before a race!  Heck, even ten year olds know that much.  Don’t they?

*We may or may not have a few ten year olds in our home that may or may not have done these things.

Rich Harris