When do you DNS or DNF?
DNS - Did Not Start
How do you know the difference between an “imagined” illness due to nerves, fear and/or excitement that is all part of normal race day prep and a real illness that could result in further damage to your health?
DNF - Did Not Finish
If you wake up on race day and don’t feel 100%, should you go ahead and run your race risking a DNF.
As runners we invest a lot of time and effort into training, we set goals, train, pay the entry fee, travel to the race and not starting or dropping out can be a huge blow to your confidence and your perceived ability as a runner. If you are feeling less than fantastic in the lead up to a race, when is it ok to risk it and when do you know to hang up your trainers and admit defeat?
Resilience
Both DNF and DNS are reminders of the unpredictable nature of running and serve as valuable lessons in resilience and acceptance and whilst it hard, I believe we must learn to brush off the disappointment and use it as fuel for future success.
While it may be disheartening, DNF and DNS are integral parts of the running journey and can ultimately make you stronger and more determined to cross the finish line in the future.
When I DNS
I remember very clearly a DNS, it was a half marathon a friend and I had entered, and part of Hampshire Road Race League, a competitive local event.
Upon arrival at the race, our club captain approached us saying it was important that we raced to score points for the ladies’ team, there were only 4 ladies from our club running it and they needed a team of 3 to score.
That was it, the pressure and my inexperience quite literally stopped me in my tracks, I made some excuse about being poorly, sat and waited in the car for 2 hours for my friend to finish. The only person who missed out was me, a tough lesson to learn.
London Marathon 2010
I’ve also ran numerous races where I’m convinced that I’ve needed to pull out, battling with the mental demons, convincing myself that I needed to pull out, stopping every time I saw my dad. This race was a tough mental battle as it was so busy, and I hadn’t expected that. I pushed through these mental barriers finishing a better, stronger runner.
Surviving a DNF or DNS
If you are feeling apprehensive about an upcoming race, just ask yourself how has you training really been? Honestly, do you think you have done enough? Are there other factors affecting your decision, is life busy, have you got time to give up most of the day for a race? Are you putting too much pressure on yourself, should you adjust your race goals? Will there be other races, or have you pinned everything to this one event?
And this is where the difficulty lies, if you know you’re not ready to run the race but you’ve paid your money, you’re with your running buddies so you don’t want to be seen as a quitter, or have the fear of missing out so you give it a go; and you hate it so much that you vow never to race ever again. Maybe if runners felt more able to just walk off the course without feeling like a failure, then it wouldn’t seem like such a failure?
But how do you know if you should start?
There is no definitive answer to this, only you know your own fortitudes and limits from your experience.
Review your goals for the race, are they still attainable, if not then change your race goals, have a plan B, C, D.
You will recover from disappointment and embarrassment as you learn to analyse what went wrong, perhaps overtraining, too much pressure at home or at work and then you can deal with it and move on.
We can suffer from race amnesia, you forget about the pain and the problems and as you stand around after the fact, clearheaded, you kick yourself thinking I could have/I should have. Remind yourself that in the moment you made the choices you needed to make at that time.