My worst race: league XC champs sophomore year of high school. This was actually about two months ago. The course was one I had really struggled with the year before, the main problem being the incredibly steep downhill sections that would hammer away at my legs until they were on fire.
The first big mistake I made was taking my warmups off about ten minutes before the race. The temps weren't crazy low, but enough to chill you (maybe 45-50). I had misestimated the time I had before the gun, and I left my sweats at my team tent, so I didn't have the option of putting them back on once I was at the line.
About 400m into the race, I was already feeling incredibly tight in the hamstrings and quads, but I kept pushing to stay towards the front of the pack. The first mile, which was fairly flat, felt like a bit more of a struggle than it should have been. At that point, the course got into the steep downhills, and I got absolutely destroyed. I would get dropped by four or five other runners on every hill, and within a half mile I was in last place. Coming through two miles in 11:56, I was just hanging on and trying to finish, knowing that I had blown it.
There was a short and very steep uphill section about a half mile from the finish, and as soon as I scaled it, my legs just couldn't move anymore. They weren't really burning or stinging, they just felt like they were turning to stone. I remember seeing the guy in front of me running away, and then my legs gave out. I fell onto the side of the course and stumbled back to my feet when the Gator that was following the race stopped to pick me up. It was a long ride back to the start/finish line, especially when I passed my two team managers, who had been taking 3-mile splits. One of them was a really hot girl I had a crush on. Lowest point in my running career so far, hands down.
The next two or three days just felt like a haze; I couldn't believe I had fvcked up so badly. Most of my teammates totally blew me off, clearly thinking I was a pvssy and an awful runner. I had let them down as the sixth man on our team, and I still wonder whether or not I could have kept running, and whether or not it would have even mattered.
Outdoor track, and another chance to prove myself to myself and my team, is still on the horizon. The only thing to do now is to learn from that race and move on, even if that means venting to nobody in particular on some internet forum.