This is just my story but I hope if it helps one other person push beyond what they thought was attainable then I'll be happy.

Two years ago when I got into running I set a goal to do a half. I did my first half that fall and felt great accomplishment but my body not so hot. I try to live my motto of 'never say "Never"' because things can always change and it might not be likely but anything is possible. However, at that time it seemed I felt bad enough after 13 miles that I couldn't imagine wanting to go double that. The more runner sites I joined and other people I talked to- a marathon still sounded like a horrible idea. I was inundated with stories of losing toenails, leg injuries, loss of bodily functions (if you're a runner I think you know what I'm referring to) and other bad outcomes. Plus all this info about proper fueling and training, etc. and it just seemed too daunting. So I said- I wouldn't ever want to do a race that I didn't think I could complete successfully and feel 'good' afterwards.

As some time passed and I added strength training (a must!) to running and cleaned up my diet a bit; I improved my half performance. Now I had advanced to completing halfs, showering and then shopping the rest of the day. I was even able to improve my time on most races. Slowly but surely I was introduced to people that had done marathons and did not encounter any 'horror' story conditions. It started to sound like maybe it was possible to have a positive experience even with 26 miles.

So this is my testimony having completed my first full marathon less than 48 hours ago. I am not some size 2 athlete from the time I was small. When I started a couple of years ago I was over 190 pounds so size, speed or past performance should not be an issue. Most importantly DO NOT underestimate this goal. 26 miles is a distance to be respected! A normal body does not want to go out and accomplish this (thus where I feel most of the horror stories come from- under-prepared participants). So it does take an immense amount of adequate time & training to build up. I also feel there is less room for margin of error in preparation and definitely on race day.

All that being said, consider this is the story of a regular middle American 40 year old mom. I certainly do not eat super clean on a regular basis. Heck I run so I can have pizza not so that I have to stay away from it! And it was not a perfect road- for the last two months of training I watched & catered to a slight pain in my lower right leg; trying to keep it from getting worse. I wanted to make my marathon but not at the price of a potential injury that could affect me for a long time to come. So I headed into race day prepared for the worst and hoping for the best. I'm not even trying to take all the credit for the outcome- I did what I could but luck & prayers make the difference and there are certainly many things just out of our control.

I followed some main rules- start out running slower than you trained for (or you will pay in the last miles) and FUEL! I made myself eat & drink what I calculated should be proper to carry my muscles through. I certainly never felt hungry or thirsty but I made myself stay on track. I walked through the stations where I was eating or taking drinks from the cups (I also always carry fluid with me ). So I am here to tell you- you CAN do it! I never even hit the proverbial 'wall' (although I think I had a taste of it on some of my training runs- much better to get it out of the way then!). So it is possible for regular people to train and run smart and complete a FULL marathon and feel GOOD! I honestly have much less pain/recovery after my full than I did after my first half marathon. So proper training which must include strength training (my opinion if you want to ward off injuries) can get you to the goal if you have the determination to complete that goal that 99% of people will never even attempt!

Good luck and race on!