I was planning to run a race recently.   I was registered for it at least.   A race that I ran last year and really enjoyed.    I signed up and was planning to go.   I wanted to do this one even more after reading a little more about the person the race was in honor of in the Marathon Woman book.   He seemed like such an interesting person that I thought it would be great to run in now that I actually knew who he was.   What was that race?    The Fred Lebow NYRR Half Marathon.   This was also the first year that they were giving out medals.   Exciting stuff.

Then the East Coast got hit with a little storm you might have heard about.    A little blizzard named Jonas.    Now NYRR does not cancel any of their events easily.    Bibs were picked up.   Weather was checked.    They were waiting to see if they could still host the event and maybe change it from a scored event to a non scored which has happened before.    They very wisely decided Saturday evening to actually cancel the event.

Boo Hoo.

Since they already had the medals, anyone registered was able to pick theirs up.   One of my fellow MRTT Mama’s picked up our medals.   At first I thought that since I didn’t actually race the event since there was no event that I would give my medal to my youngest son who often drools over Mommy’s medals.    Then I saw the medal and gave it a second thought.   I did run this event last year and didn’t get a medal after all.

Now a lot of people get hung on “well I didn’t run the race, why would I want the medal.”    I’m sure not everyone picked theirs up.   We all have our superstitions…..   Some will run a half on their own in order to justify keeping it.  I didn’t feel that way.   I wasn’t planning to race it, so much as just finish it.  I was going to use it as a training run.  The truth be told, race day is just a part of an event.   There is all the training and preparation to even get to the start line.   I think in a situation like this where the event is canceled is very different from someone who does not show up at an event when run.    Part of me also realizes that I might feel different if I hadn’t run this event in the past.

Every sport has it’s superstitions and traditions.   Each runner has their own.   There are some who won’t wear a race shirt to the actual race and will only wear it once finished.    I wore the hat for a run 2 days before the scheduled event.   It’s nice and toasty.  I think I may have worn a race shirt on race day before.   Truth be told the I usually don’t because I am a creature of habit.   I may change the accessories, but my race outfit is usually very similar.    My race pictures will attest to this.   In some pictures, if it wasn’t for the bib it would look like the same day:)

Now this being said, I will admit that I would not by a  MCM Finisher t-shirt until I actually finished the event.    I thought I might bring bad luck if I bought it the day before at the expo.   I would say based on the line for them after the race, I was not alone in my thought process either.    Obviously not everyone felt this way though because I’m sure they sold a lot at the expo.

Truth be told there is no right thing or wrong thing to do.    I would never tell someone they had to do it my way and I certainly would not want someone to tell me I had to do it their way.    Each person has to make the decisions that are best for them.   That works for them.    Anyone who says otherwise probably isn’t reading this blog anyway:))

What are your race superstitions?