"Dennis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:So I imagine this gets asked all the time but whatever; Is in unreasonable to try and run my first
marathon this fall(The chicago Marathon specifically) if I start training now? I feel like 7
months ought to be enough, but thought I'd get some opinions. For the last fours years, I've
played college-club ultimate frisbee, which as you know entails a lot of running(though obviously
not marathon-sort of running), but It wasn't really year-round training. I'd be in good shape in
the spring and slowly go to pot until the fall, when we started playing again. I graduated last
may, and haven't really exercised as much as I used to in school, so I'm definately not in the
best shape of my life. But I'll have a long time to train, and I'll have lots of free time this
summer(I'm only teaching one class four days a week), so it seems the perfect year to do it. Is 7
months long enough? how good shape do I need to be in before even thinking about it?
Dennis O'Dea
Dennis,
First off, sure 7 months *is* enough time in order to properly prepare to run a marathon. I say this
because hundreds or thousands (I assume) of people run their first marathon every year with a
similar ammount of training,...organized fund-raising-marathon-running groups for charity seem to be
almost everywhere these days.
That said,...keep in mind that, all else being about equal, you will probably be much more prone to
injury during training, compared to another runner who follows conventional wisdom and gets 1-2
years (at least) of running under his/her belt before considering the marathon distance. You can
keep the injury risks to a minimum if you are prudent about following the advice that a respected
program will feed you, if you are not especially injury prone, that is...if you have a history of
bad knees, ankles, etc...I would forget about the marathon and concentrate on very slowly working
your way into running.
You will also be more inclined to have a somewhat more "painful" experience with the marathon,
compared to runners with a longer background in running, but to some of us :::grin:::, that extra
bit of newbie pain is just another piece of the challenge which makes the finish line that much
sweeter 🙂
If your aim is to simply complete the distance in no particular amount of time (which is often
recommended for a first marathon) then the risks of injury and "painful" experience are likely to be
greatly reduced. However, if you are looking for the additional challenge of *running* the 26.2
miles with very little walking involved, then be prepared to suffer extra...not that that's
necessarily a bad thing per se,...
I would ask,...what is the main motivation for you wanting to enter this marathon race?
I recently jumped into running (with only a little casual soccer playing beforehand) and almost
imediately found my way to a local marathon training group. I was thinking that I had not *really*
challenged myself with much of anything in my life, and for no particular reason, I felt it was time
to change that. I set an early goal of a fairly aggressive sub 4 hour finishing time, which meant
very little walking would be allowed in order to achieve this goal. For 6 months, I worked very
hard, made some mistakes, suffered some mild-ish injuries, learned a ton about both myself and
running in general, and managed to finish my marathon in 3h42m. Keeping a relatively slow (but
steady) running pace through the last mile or so, while my body seemed to be screaming "For the love
of God, STOP RUNNING!!" was just about the biggest challenge I've ever faced. I crossed that finish
line a better person for it, and nobody can ever take that away. Yes, it was brutally difficult, but
that was the *entire* point of why I started the program in the first place...that was MY
motivation, but yours may very well be quite different...
Anyway,...for lots more info on first time marathoning, check out some sites like:
www.runnersworld.com
www.halhigdon.com
There's probably tons more,...also may want to check out amazon.com and search for 'marathon'
books,...there's a bunch to choose from. If you decide to go for it, definitely follow a good
program/schedule of some sort,...don't just go out and run around for 7 months before race day!
Hope this helps,
-Jake
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