You can break the marathon down into two "halves". The first half is 20 miles long. The second half is 10k long.

I remember my first one well. I was just getting in to running and decided to tackle the big challenge. Used the Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan and followed it faithfully. I only missed a handful of mid-week runs, and never missed a long run. I got to race day thinking I was totally prepared and had planned to run somewhere in the 4:10-4:20 range.


The first 20 miles went by pretty well. IE - the first half. I started actually feeling the hurt around mile 18 though. I remember thinking that at least for the first 20 miles it wasn't any different than the last long run I did. I crossed that 20 mile mark and thought to myself that this is now uncharted territory. I was definitely hurting at this point and things went downhill pretty quickly. By mile 21 I was questioning why I ever wanted to run a marathon in the first place. Mile 22 I was starting to think I might die. Mile 23 I was pretty sure I would die. At Mile 24 I was really just hoping for the sweet release of death to make the pain stop. At Mile 25 all that went away and I went somewhat mentally numb. At 26 I started trying to really run it in and pretend my last horrible 10k never happened. I finished in something like 4:35 and then I finally remembered why I wanted to do it in the first place. The feeling you get at the finish line cannot be matched by anything else, especially that first one.

Fast forward 6 years, 7 more open marathons and 4 full Ironmans, I ran a 3:04:14 to solidly qualify for Boston.

litsy3 wrote: »

And then my legs seized up and got really stiff as soon as I stopped running, of course!

Nothing... and I mean nothing... can prepare you for this. Even knowing it is going to happen (after every marathon/ironman for me), there is nothing you can do to prepare yourself for just how horrible this feeling is...

That advice not to change anything? To do everything just as you have been? I didn't get that advice. Never heard it. Instead, I heard someone say: 'Your feet really swell when you run that far, and then your shoes become tight and you can lose circulation.' So, when I tied my shoes, I left them a bit loose. Duh. I got terrible blisters and hobbled thru the last 8 or so miles.

kristinegift wrote: »

But I didn't drink enough or eat anything, so when I took a train back to the place I was staying I almost fainted

I should clarify: I ate/drank as planned during the race, but didn't drink enough water/Gatorade or eat any of the free food after the race bc I just wanted to get home and shower. Definitely should have at least eaten one of those half bagels or something!

My first marathon came at age 60. I had "accidentally" gotten back into running after signing up for the Cooper River Bridge Run in April 2013 (my first 10K since 1985, when I ran a July 4th 10K). I really just wanted to get pictures up on the bridge, but I ended up running most of the course except when I was taking pictures. When I got to the end of the 10K, I felt remarkably good and thought I could run at least twice that far.

My marathoning friends handed me a training plan using Galloway's run/walk approach and I picked up training for an end of October/early November marathon. Didn't commit to one until the end of August once I determined that training was going well enough. Fortunately, where I was training (hills) pretty much matched the course (hills).

Things I learned:

• Don't throw in extra (junk) miles just to get more training in towards the end of the training cycle. It can hurt more than it can help. In my case, as I began my taper with one of my longish runs, I picked the gnarliest, hilly sections I could run even though I was running slowly and had been dealing with hills in my typical runs. Caused a lot of unexpected pain in my legs and took almost the entire taper to recover.
  
• Dress for the temperature, not the weather. If it is cool or cold, be prepared with a throwaway sweatshirt because even with a warmup cycle, you may be cool at the start. Once you get up to operating speed and temperature, your body is acting as if it is 15-20 °F warmer than the real temperature. Rain could be the exception, but the one marathon I ran where it rained almost the entire way (mile 2-23), it was 42°F and at the level of effort I was running, I was quite comfortable with a long sleeve tech shirt and a pair of running shorts.
  
• Run straight lines and attempt to run the shortest line on the course. That can be tough with crowding. My first marathon, I started out with the sweepers and allowed the running hoard to accelerate away from me at the start. By the time I got to the first narrow section, the crowd had begun to thin out a bit. Resist, resist, RESIST, the temptation to sprint away at the beginning just because the crowd is doing so. Whatever you burn up because you go too fast in the first couple of miles, you'll not get back later on in the race. I was glad I didn't go out too fast in that first marathon.
  
• I followed the advise not to wear, eat, or drink anything I had not trained with on the long runs. That worked well. I don't wear the t-shirt they give at the expo...first, because I haven't really earned it yet and, second, it hasn't been washed yet and I haven't trained in it.
  
• Don't set a too ambitious time goal for your first race. My longest training run was 26 miles and I knew that I could complete the course within the allotted time. I set an initial time goal of 5:00:00. I hit the HM point close to 2:30:00 and the 20 mile mark at 3:47. The last 6 miles had some pretty intense hills (see next bullet) and I finished at 5:10:51.
  
• Be mindful where you step. I stepped on a seed pod from a sweet gum tree while running downhill in my first marathon just beyond Mile 14. The rolling action of the pod under my heel and then the sudden, off-balance lurch when my foot made solid contact with the asphalt caused me a minor tear of the Achilles tendon. While I could still run on the flats and the downhill with little or no pain, running uphill was a real problem because my left Achilles was hurting with the amount of stretching associated with the tendon going uphill. This caused me to compensate and tire other muscles that hadn't given me a problem during training. I was fortunate that I didn't do too much damage and I was not a DNF.
• Whatever muscle or joint weakness you consistently experience during the training will magnify during the race. There is always some weakest link in the system that shows up during training.
• Whatever that weakness is, expect that you'll attempt to compensate for it and you'll stress some other system that hadn't given you a problem during training.
  
  
• Have a dry set of clothes waiting for you in the finish area (gear check or friends and family). Unless the temperature at the end of the race is in the 80's, you'll cool down remarkably fast in the wet running gear (more so, if you've run in the rain). At least have a dry shirt that you can swap into. I wished I had this when I finished my first two marathons (had to go back to the car to get it).
  
• Do get some carbs and protein into your system relatively quickly once you finish. I didn't do that after my first marathon. After that first one, I made sure to re-energize myself. I am fortunate that I don't have a major lactose intolerance problem, so a container of chocolate milk works for me. I'll go for muffins, cookies and bagels next. Usually a banana. Pizza is often available at the marathons I've run but it usually isn't all that appealing to me immediately after finishing.
  
  
• Smile for the cameras! Thank the volunteers!

Since then I've gotten a better handle on how to hydrate, carb load prior to the race, and carb sustain during the race. I've found my favorite combinations of gels and drinks that work for me. They don't necessarily taste great (we are running a marathon, not attending a wine and cheese tasting party), but training is about finding what works for you, not necessarily what works for someone else.

My first marathon was a learning experience to say the least. I had a pretty solid running base before I decided to run a marathon and only missed a couple mid week short runs of my training program. Things I'm taking into consideration when/changing when I tackle the same marathon in May are:
* beware of the hills. I did hill repeats and ran hills in my training, but nothing prepared me for the really big up and down hill. Know your course
* bring more fuel them you think you need. I brought 2 extra gels with me just in case and that was not enough. See next point
* eat a good breakfast (what you're used too of coarse). Travelling for the race made it a little harder to get what I was used to especially at that time of the morning which played into me needing more fuel during the race
* start out slow, really slow no matter how good you feel. Of you still feel that good 3/4 of the way through you can make up that time.
* bring pain relievers for after the race. I am someone that never takes anything and the muscle stiffness/spazzing after the race was so unbareable that I was tempted to wander around town at 3am to find something if I had 1. Been able to walk 2. Made it down the four flights pfnstairs of my hotel to get outside lol.
* I ended up hitting a huge wall at the 1/2 way mark and pushed with everything I had to not get "swept" up at the 31km mark and then alternated walking and running 1km for almost the rest of the race.
**** have fun and talk to the people around you. Makes it so much better

Here's what I wrote after my first (and thus far only) marathon just over a year ago:

I hit 40 this year and in a stereotypical manner I decided I wanted to set myself the challenge of running a marathon. I've been a recreational runner since 2011 and have run 3 half marathons before this and a couple of brutal 10 mile hilly trail races, plus a handful of 5k's.

As I started searching for an event I thought I could get prepared in time for, Leicester jumped out at me. It's not a big event, it's not a very attractive city and I hadn't read great reviews but it was the home of the specialist premature baby unit that cared for my youngest daughter some years back and so it resonated with me and trying to raise a little bit of money for them helped provide additional motivation.

The Event
About 4000 people line up at the start line in a large and attractive park, 90% of whom are doing the half mara. The first 10kms or so are through some tired-looking parts of this post war city (apologies to any locals). The half mara peels off just before the 10km mark at which point the marathon leaves the city and heads into attractive countryside and villages, doing a large loop before coming back to the same spot where the half-mara peeled away and then following their route home via a lake-strewn country park then a final run through the city to the finish line.
It's a meandering, undulating route with no major hills, gaining only 164m elevation (according to my Garmin).

Race Day
A chest cold added to my pre-race anxiety in the final week and to be honest, my head was all over the place. I knew my goal of 4 hours was unreachable in my condition (if it ever was) and I was really worried about not finishing and letting down all the people who had donated to the charity on my behalf. I really should not have Googled "running a marathon with a chest cold" the night before in vain hope of finding reassurance.

Fortunately the night before the race was when the clocks go back an hour in the UK so I was able to get some rest AND get up early. For a 9:15am gun time I was parked at 7:30am about a 7 or 8 minute walk away (remember that duration, it comes back into play later). I like to get there early, drink a cup of tea, do a reconnaissance of the staging area and destroy the nearest portaloo (TMI - sorry).

Coupled with a hacking cough, the wind at the start was nothing short of cruel. Although the ambient temperature was about 10 degrees C, it felt closer to zero and everyone was having a good old English moan about it whilst we waited. I'd lined up at the "longer than 4 hours" marker and it took over 5 full minutes to cross the start line.

There was a long gradual downhill for the first 3kms which was quite a confidence boost. If it wasn't for the chest cold, I would probably have gotten a bit carried away at that point. As it was I kept it easy and stayed within 10-15seconds per km below my target of 6 mins per. I chatted with a few people up to the half-mara split point where suddenly it got really lonely. From having hundreds and hundreds of people around me to just a dozen or so within my line of sight and all spread out was a big change.

By this time my chest was clearing up nicely and I was getting comfortable. I'd seen one person passed out at the side of the road (being attended to) but I stopped fearing that would be me and just stuck to my rhythm.

I took as SiS gel at every water station every 5kms/30mins.
I took a Nuun electrolyte tablet every 10kms/60mins.

This seemed to work pretty well, though with tangible peaks and troughs as they kicked in and wore off. I really, really struggled at one point to do the mental calculation as to what is two-thirds distance and if I has passed it yet. I eventually got it, then 1 minute later couldn't remember the answer and couldn't calculate it that time. Odd.

Those winds came back to punish us several times. It wasn't quite take your breath away, but it was close. That seemed very cruel at the time. I'm sure at some point it was behind us and giving a push, but I didn't notice that at the time.

I can see from my Garmin splits that I pretty much stuck to my 6:00 per km rigidly give or take for inclines and descents. By the 32 km mark (20 miles) my watch was showing an avg pace of 5:52 per km. At this point I seem to have started slowing down getting to a worst of 6:33 before picking up a bit for the final few kms.

I got a huge mental boost from overtaking people. From when the mara group split, I think I got passed once only and I must have overtaken 50-75 people. Since my pace didn't alter, I guess they all went out too fast and ended up slowing and walking. As a newbie, that was very encouraging and surprising. I distinctly remember 3 people wearing "100 marathon club" t-shirts and a few Iron Man t-shirts and I guess they were having a bad day, but it helped me stay with it.

I've read here a couple of time (Carson I think) that you shouldn't train beyond 20 miles at it takes a heck of a toll on the body. I followed that guidance and now I know why. It's a real battering. My legs were like lead and my head was a mess, but I knew I couldn't succumb to the temptation of a short walk. I wouldn't have got started again so other than walking through the water stations I ran (plodded!) the whole way.

The final 6 kms were all uphill. Gradual for the first 3 but worse for the final 3. In fact the Garmin says it was only a 16m climb during the worst of those kms but it felt like a mountain to me. I was really hurting bad, but I kept thinking about the fighting spirit my youngest showed when she was born so small and that in comparison these final few kms were a small thing.

Unexpectedly, about a km from the end I heard my name called and it was my wife and 10 year old son. He ran with me the final km, urging me on. I was a mess. Poor kid had to answer the question "where is the end?" 4 times. My Garmin must have been a bit out as it was telling me I'd done the distance about 300m before I had. Cruel, cruel, cruel.

4hrs 15mins was my chip time. The photo taken afterwards is the worst, most unflattering photo I've ever had taken, but I'm proud to display it. It will be my profile pic here for a while now.

Post Race
It took 25 minutes to get back to the car. You'll recall it was only a 7 or 8 minute walk away. I was absolutely spent.

A HUGE thanks to everyone who gave me tips, support and kept me accountable during the training. It helped me a lot!! Whilst many people achieve incredible feats in life that dwarf a marathon, this was the biggest physical challenge I've ever undertaken and I am feeling pretty good about overcoming it.

I've learnt quite a lot in the preparation and running of my first marathon and I think I will write a full blog post so others might be able to avoid some of my mistakes.

I thanked every single one of the marshals along the route; "thank you marshall for your time today" and "thank you marshall for giving up your Sunday" though the last few came out as "thank you time" and "thank today" which must have been quite confusing for them. They were an enthusiastic bunch which was just what you need when there are no crowds to urge you on.

WhatMeRunning wrote: »

....Drove home and then had to deal with the hardest part of the day. Getting out of the car and into the house.

I forgot about that part after my first. I nearly had to call my wife on the cell phone to come out to the driveway and help me out of the car.

My first marathon went extremely well. I had a strong base before I even started training - 10-12 mile long runs every weekend. Then I did Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1 program where I did almost every workout. I think the biggest thing that made me enjoy the experience was not having a time goal. I wanted to run the whole thing, but I didn't want to push myself too hard. So I just went out at a comfortable pace. I ended up picking my pace up in the last 6 and finished with a faster second half than first (something I've never been able to do again!). Here's my report if interested: http://myalpineadventures.blogspot.com/2014/01/walt-disney-world-marathon.html