Calling Avid Runners--Need Input!

I've been there - training was going AWESOME, then something hit. For me most recently, it was a cold that morphed into something else. I chose to not run my half, and figured I'll schedule one later, once I get back on my game. Life happened (I hope your brothers are doing much much better), and training was halted. You're not prepared for a full marathon. IMO, it's better to downgrade and not injure yourself (or worse). I think running the 10k this time is a better option. You can always find another marathon to complete later, and train well for it. It'll be a MUCH better experience for you, and also safer. Distance running is hard on your body. It can be devastating if you're doing it without proper training.

First off, 10:45/mile pace is not all that too slow. It's not elite, but it's not that slow either.

As far as my personal marathon and marathon training experience, my 4th marathon I am running is on April 29th. I am attempting to qualify for the 2018 Boston Marathon. My goal is to run it in 3:20:00 time. So I have been training pretty consistently for the past 3 and a half years. And in that time I have studied a lot on the subject of running.
I have a blog about my running quest: http://therunningstan.blogspot.com/p/my-home.html


I am not the type of person that will tell a person to drop out of something if they have their heart set on something. If you really want to complete a marathon so bad, I am not the person that will try and convince you not to do it. The smart person in me will say drop down to the 10K and try again with better training.
I wrote on my blog about marathon training plans where the one thing I wrote is to give yourself more than 18 weeks to train for a marathon because of things that happen unexpectedly. Life happens while you are training and you need to give yourself more flexibility than what the canned plans give you if you are serious about something like a marathon.

If you really want to run the marathon, know when the cutoff time is. Usually you get 6 hours to run most marathons.
This link is a survivor's strategy for running a marathon in 6-1/2 hours. It's pretty much a run/walk method which is what I would suggest if you have your mind set on completing the marathon this time around.

However, it will not be enjoyable for you based upon your training. As far as what kind of training to do in the last week and a half? NONE! This is supposed to be your taper time. In fact, this week is my first week of tapering and my marathon is a week later than yours. This close to race time, your body is supposed to be healing for the marathon. Any training you do from now till the race will actually hurt you for the race. The saying goes, "the hay is already in the barn".

It is certainly heart breaking situation for you and I hope your brothers are going to be OK.

The marathon is a very serious thing. Training for one is one of the most intense things to commit to. Running one without the proper training can at worst set you up for a serious injury. At best, a very miserable experience. If you got dizzy after 15 miles, you certainly will put yourself in jeopardy just trying to reach for 20, and add to that 6.2 more miles. Like I said, I hate to tell people to not do something they have their heart set on, but in your case, I would highly recommend that you drop to the 10K and sign up for another one maybe 6 months from now.

I recommend that you not only look at my blog, but join in my monthly running challenge where there is a ton of people with marathon training experience. At least 2 people in my group are running Boston next Monday.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10535947/april-2017-running-challenge

Good luck in what you decide, and again I am so very sorry about your brothers.