The number one piece of advice?

SLOW DOWN! :laugh:

If you feel like you are going way too slow during the first 20 miles, then you are probably doing fine.

The goal for the first marathon should be to finish in one piece. It takes years to develop the fitness necessary to race a marathon.

The mantra that I have used for two marathons that weren't relatively flat was "Manage the effort, not the pace" to keep me from becoming fixated on what the Garmin is telling me. The marathon is ALL about fuel conservation. The idea is to run out of glycogen as you cross the finish line. If you go a little too fast, or expend too much effort to maintain your pace going up a hill, you could run out before the finish. This is "the wall". To avoid this, I tried to concentrate on maintaining a consistent level of effort through the elevation changes.

OK... I'll leave it to @arc918 to swoop in with his top three tips, but will give you a hint: they all involve not going out too fast!!! Develop a pace plan that gradually picks up the pace throughout the race... which means starting out SLOW. I'd also say don't be afraid to take on calories/carbs in whatever form you've trained; gels, chews, etc. I'd rather take on the carbs early and often than hit the wall.

As far as mantras go, I have two: "Float, flutter, fly" (from an episode of The Backyardigans... so that one makes me giggle while it keeps me light on my feet!). The other is "Strong, smart, fast" - the smart is all about holding waaaaaayyy back early in the race so that I can taunt people as I pass them in the last 6 miles!

Finally, my biggest mental tip (particularly since you feel good about your long runs) is to remind yourself how many times you've done this. How many times have you run a half?!? A bunch. So crank through the first half marathon (slowly!) and then all you've got is another half marathon left. Then, when you hit mile 18, all you've got left is 8 miles. And how many times have you run 8 miles?!? A million, I bet it seems like! And when you hit mile 20 - pfffft - all you've got is a measly 10K! You could crank through a 10K in your sleep. At mile 23 - OMG - you've only got a 5K left!!! That's a joke!

You've trained, you've run a million miles... the hay is in the barn. It'll be there for you when you need it on race day. Best of luck to you!!! :flowerforyou:

Totally with Carson. The first 10 miles or so should feel ridiculously easy. Keep the pace controlled. When it gets tough break it into little pieces. "After this mile I'll take a break". And then after that mile, "ok, till I catch that guy in front". Have as much fun as you can. Giving high fives to people along the course helps me

Don't try anything new on race day.

Keep doing what you have been doing in training. Don't make any major adjustments on race day:

1. Hydrate like you always have, not more or less
2. Don't use the race provided energy gels, etc unless you have trained with those same gels before the race
3. No last minute shoe changes

Don't eat anything different than you normally eat before on a long run.

I learned the hard way

I would just reiterate the two things said before:
1.) Don't do anything different on race day. (I was told, before my marathon, that you run so far your feet swell and it becomes really uncomfortable. So, I loosened my shoes, to give my feet room. I ended up getting blisters, which really slowed me down.)
2.) Do not start out too fast. This is so easy to do, what with the adrenaline of the race and all kinds of other, faster people around you at the start.
Good luck and have fun!

For every long race that I do (and I have done many that are pretty damn long), I always carry what I call my magic pill, just in case I need it. I learned this during my first marathon, where a woman handed me a Life Saver candy at about mile 20. That Life Saver got me through the end of the race. These days my magic pills are usually the Ginger People ginger chews. I know it's there in my pack, easily accessible, and I know that I can get it if I need it. I'd say that these days I end up eating it about 20% of the time. But just knowing that it's there (and I love ginger chews!) helps for some reason.

I don't really have a motivational mantra. What I usually end up doing is saying either out loud or in my head, "Shut up, governor!" (as in this governor: http://www.irunfar.com/2013/06/peak-performance-and-the-selfish-brain-the-central-governor-and-its-role-in-100-mile-performance.html) And sometimes I say, out loud or to myself, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming." :happy:

Having only done one, my advice doesn't carry as much weight as others, but the whole slow thing was spot on for me. In my instance, I was still dealing with the aftermath of bronchitis. While this sucked, I think it actually helped force me to slow down, especially early. As I settled into a groove for the first half, my lungs cleared out a bit, I was able to take the last half ~12 minutes faster, and negative split the last 8 miles, while others were blowing up/slamming the wall/bonking.

As others have said, the first 10-13 miles should feel like you're going slow. After that, perhaps try to pick it up just a bit based on how you feel. If you've paced yourself correctly, you hopefully will still feel strong as you hit ~18+ miles and you start seeing the human wreckage of others hitting the wall. After you pass 20-22 (your previous max. long run), you should hopefully feel confident that you've got the last handful of miles.

You've got this Jen. Enjoy the experience.

Fuel how you fueled in training even if you dont feel you need it at that point. Talk yourself up. I never feel like i've hitten "the wall" but around mile 22 it starts getting a bit mentally draining. I just remind myself it's only 4 miles left. IMO once you hit a certain point you pretty much know whatever happens you can knock out those last few miles even if you had to walk them all.

This is what hitting the wall looks like on a Garmin.

Split Time
1 06:04.2
2 06:12.1
3 06:06.5
4 05:58.5
5 06:01.9
6 06:20.0
7 06:09.3
8 06:21.7
9 06:15.9
10 06:17.1
11 06:20.3
12 06:17.0
13 06:21.4
14 06:17.4
15 06:25.6
16 06:22.0
17 06:41.8
18 06:28.9
19 06:35.9
20 06:53.5
21 06:48.8
22 07:21.1
23 06:39.3
24 07:41.7
25 07:32.7
26 07:44.7
27 02:03.0

I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut that the bolded splits are primarily responsible for the bonk.

My biggest issue is always about fuel... during training I was just fine with the 20 miler, but when it came to race day, the fueling that worked for the 20 miler didn't work for me for the full. I should have consumed more and I should have consumed sooner than I did.

There is no shame in walking if you need it. Walking can breathe new life into tired legs; can reset a bad attitude.

Even if you're feeling like crap, smile. Sounds silly, but it can really work improve your outlook. Encourage your fellow runners - a little bit of encouragement might mean the world to them and I don't know about you, but helping other people always adds a little spring to my step.

Other than that, the most helpful thing for me is to break it into smaller distances. A marathon is really only a little farther than 5 5-mile runs. 5 mile runs are easy, right? I'm constantly doing mental math and breaking distances down like that ~ for whatever reason, it helps me a ton.

You will do GREAT. I just know it.

As an aside - during my first marathon, even when I felt the lousiest, I never doubted my ability to finish. And, since finishing was really my only goal, I was pretty happy throughout. During my third marathon when I was battling some painful hamstring issues, I nearly quit at the half way mark. One of the big reasons I didn't was because I'd bought a $1 poster before the race. That $1 made a huge difference because I couldn't have the ONE race poster that I had be for the race I didn't finish! Ha!

Great post! I was actually thinking about posting something similar (1 week to go until my first!).

Question - how do I know what a good pace to start out at is? Because I've been doing all of my long runs at just under an 11 minute/mile pace (around 10:50 to be exact), but everyone says you run faster on race day. So should I start out at the same 11 minute pace? Or go for 10:30?

Ideally I'd like to run the marathon at around 4:30 (which would be 10:18 pace). However, I am also telling myself it's okay if I'm closer to 5 hours! It is my first after all.

You'd probably come out on the right side of that bet. Plus, the last 5-6 miles were mostly incline, which certainly didn't help. I'm taking another stab at the same race (minimal course changes) on Saturday. Hoping to run a little smarter / faster.

Is there a wrong side to a bet of a dollar to a doughnut?

I have two pieces of advice:

1- Unless you are trying to qualify for a world record, and are going over 13 minute miles, don't worry about the time that you finish in. I know for me that if I can focus on how I feel instead of what the clock on your wrist says. If you have a mile that takes 9 minutes, and the next mile takes 11, who cares- no one. You're out there, you've trained, and you've done enough. Don't let it get into your head.

2- Speaking of your head. YOU WILL HIT A WALL. It may be at mile 7, it may be at mile 13, it may be at mile 20, it may be at all of the above. You will get over it. Everyone out on that course with you will hit that wall- so you'd be weird if you didn't. Have something ready to get yourself through. Think of the hugs from your four kids, think of all the chocolate you can eat at the end, think of the bragging rights or whatever it is that will get you through and keep going.

2- Speaking of your head. YOU WILL HIT A WALL. It may be at mile 7, it may be at mile 13, it may be at mile 20, it may be at all of the above. You will get over it. Everyone out on that course with you will hit that wall- so you'd be weird if you didn't. Have something ready to get yourself through. Think of the hugs from your four kids, think of all the chocolate you can eat at the end, think of the bragging rights or whatever it is that will get you through and keep going.

With this, I don't agree, unless you and I are defining "The Wall"differently. Hitting the wall occurs when the body runs out of glycogen. This doesn't happen to everyone, it depends on their fitness and how well they execute their plan. I've run 4 marathons now and I hit the wall in the first one and came really close in the 4th one. The middle two, no wall, no way.