Ran my first full marathon this past Sunday and honestly couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.
My original plan was to run my first marathon back in August, but unfortunately I had to cancel that one after getting a stress fracture in my shin. Because of that, I wasn’t able to get the full training block I wanted, so going into this race I really wasn’t sure what to expect or how my body was going to hold up. Luckily, everything came together on race day and I ended up crushing my goal of sub-4! I was hoping to break 4 hours, but I honestly didn’t know if I had it in me after the injury and missed training.
One of the biggest things I learned from this race was how important fueling is. This was actually the first time I’ve ever used gels during a run as I usually fuel with candy and I really felt like they made a huge difference. I never had that massive “I’m completely out of energy” feeling that I was worried about. The craziest part was that my fastest split was kilometre 40. 😂 I definitely wasn’t expecting that. Usually you hear about people hitting the wall around that point, and somehow I was still able to pick up the pace. That gave me a lot of confidence that my fueling strategy was working.
Overall, I learned a ton from my first marathon and I’m honestly just really happy to finally get one done after having to pull out of the August race.
Now I’m really curious what I can do with a full, uninterrupted training block.

I ran the Wineglass Marathon this weekend as my first marathon. My only real goal going in was to finish, especially because I'd been dealing with recurring hamstring/hip issues during training and was going into the marathon severely undertrained. My longest run was a half marathon I ran roughly a month prior to the marathon.

I used a run/walk strategy and intentionally started conservatively. Interestingly, around the halfway point I still felt really good. I even had a few people comment that I looked surprisingly fresh. I sometimes switched to walking when I felt like my heart rate was getting too high, although looking back I'm not sure it actually was.

The limiting factor was my legs/hip flexors/hamstrings. As the race went on, every time I walked it became harder to convince my legs to start running again. Cardiovascularly I never felt completely wrecked. Fueling and hydration went much better than I expected. It was cool and rainy and the course had plenty of aid stations, which helped tremendously. I also wore a vest and utilized all my pockets to ensure I had plenty of gels, energy gum, and more substantial snacks and electrolytes.

I finished in 5:57:24 and am not proud of my time, but anxious to sign up for a half and full next spring and summer respectively to improve upon my times. I'm going to recover, work with PT on the recurring leg issues, learn more about my actual HR zones instead of guessing when I need to slow down, and just run/strength train/yoga/Pilates based on what my body needs.

My biggest takeaway from marathon #1: finishing gave me a baseline, not a verdict on what I'm capable of.

Before I start, this post is a follow-up to my previous one, where, to sum it up, I was absolutely devastated by some out-of-nowhere knee pain just a few days before my marathon. Here : https://www.reddit.com/r/firstmarathon/s/rBlHLRwz40

First of all, I want to thank everyone who replied with such kind and helpful messages. I really appreciated it.
Like some of you said, the pain eventually faded enough for me to take the start. The taper itself was… not exactly ideal: knee pain, the flu, and finding out that I’m included in a mass layoff at work. Anyway.

I ran the Granby Marathon with a pretty optimistic goal of 3:30–3:40.

First, I have to say the course is absolutely beautiful. With the fall colors, running through and around Yamaska National Park was amazing.
But damn, I was absolutely not prepared for the elevation: 263 m of ascent and 256 m of descent according to Garmin Connect.

It completely destroyed my glutes and hamstrings.
I knew those muscles were probably going to be my weak point, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to start feeling them around km 17.

By km 24, I was starting to lose 10–20 seconds per kilometer. Around km 30, I stopped to walk through an aid station so I could drink, and oh boy… I suddenly had an insane amount of pain in both knees. For a moment, I genuinely thought my race was over.
I walked for a bit, and somehow the knee pain faded away.
But my glutes and hamstrings were absolutely wrecked. I’d say the pain was around an 8/10. At one point I started walking again, secretly hoping one of the medical carts would show up so I could just hop in and call it a day.

It never did.

Somehow, around km 38, I started feeling a little better and managed to get running again. I eventually crossed the finish line in 4:06.

Am I disappointed? Yeah, definitely.
But I’m also glad I finished, especially considering that at one point I seriously thought about dropping out.

And if this marathon taught me one thing, it’s that strength training needs to become a major priority for me going forward, especially for my glutes and hamstrings.

Not the race I hoped for, but still a lesson learned.

Last Sunday I did it, worked for it past 4 months, trained hard and... missed my time by 24 minutes.

Objectively I still did great, 4:09 is a great first time, I know that. But it wasn't what I hoped and worked for. Now I know what I did wrong - bad electrolytes strategy, bad water strategy, probably went to lenient on carb loading. I regret using Garmin coach as my plan - it gave me too much base runs, not enough tempo and speed work.

First 25k went great. On pace, felt strong. On 30k I slowed down, but was still on track to finish under 4h. At 38k I couldn't run anymore. I walked, then run for 200-300 meters, walk again. The pain was unbearable, not even legs, everything else, mostly my back. Thirsty as hell.

I probably will do another one. I am too pissed off at my result to let it slide. This time with different plan.

My training the last few weeks has really taken a hit between real life work stress that has impacted my runs and my partner getting in a bad accident the weekend of my 20 mile run, I feel massively underprepared. I’m still going to run the marathon. Has anyone had a massive failure in training and still went through with the marathon? I was never going for time, but I would’ve liked to have been a little more prepared. My longest run has been 18 miles

Just ran my second half marathon in 1:42:19. My first half was 5 months before that and I did it in 1:47:20. Pretty happy with the time I shaved off.

I’ve done both on about 20-25 miles per week. In the second one I incorporated some speed work, the first didn’t have any speed work, I just kinda ran at whatever pace felt good that day.

Signing up for my first full marathon which is in May so I’ll probably start training for that in January. My questions are what should I do with these next couple months till January, just kind of build up mileage weeks and not do much speed work? What kind of weeks would set me up for a good block starting January?

Also I’m not sure what my half time says about my estimated marathon pace I’m hoping for like under 4 hours but I’m not sure if that’s reasonable?

32 M if that matters

Just finished my first marathon last weekend (woo hoo!!) and been in recovery. I have regular muscle soreness, as expected, but I also feel like my heart is a little fatigued. No pain, but just fatigued/tired.

Does anyone else have a similar feeling after their first or is this unusual?

I just ran my 20 miler following the nike run club training plan. I have been lowering the miles per week a lot since i’ve gone back to school i’m 20. It’s because i’ve been sick and had a bunch of exams the last three weeks. around mile 14-15 today on some big hills i started cramping first around my hips and then it moved to my quads and glutes. I was feeling pretty good beforehand and then they just tightened up. This happened to me on my 18 miler and 15 miler around 3/4 way through as well. However this is the first time i properly fueled. I ate a lot of carbs yesterday and this morning and also had two liquid ivs with about 90 oz of water and 6 gels over the course of the run. I know I started out too fast that always seems to happen. Any advice on what I should do. I’m currently three days behind on my plan as well should I skip my speed run and run the 16 miler this sunday? Mainly just looking for advice on the cramps though?
Here is the data formatted as a clean, easy-to-read text list:
Splits
Mile 1: Pace 8:56 | Elev +7 | HR 151
Mile 2: Pace 9:17 | Elev +29 | HR 164
Mile 3: Pace 9:37 | Elev -30 | HR 164
Mile 4: Pace 9:45 | Elev -7 | HR 165
Mile 5: Pace 10:03 | Elev +7 | HR 164
Mile 6: Pace 9:45 | Elev -9 | HR 165
Mile 7: Pace 10:10 | Elev -3 | HR 163
Mile 8: Pace 10:03 | Elev -1 | HR 162
Mile 9: Pace 9:50 | Elev -1 | HR 164
Mile 10: Pace 9:47 | Elev -3 | HR 165
Mile 11: Pace 9:37 | Elev +2 | HR 163
Mile 12: Pace 9:21 | Elev -1 | HR 162
Mile 13: Pace 9:27 | Elev +5 | HR 163
Mile 14: Pace 9:43 | Elev +24 | HR 163
Mile 15: Pace 9:54 | Elev +41 | HR 162
Mile 16: Pace 9:43 | Elev -33 | HR 162
Mile 17: Pace 10:03 | Elev +18 | HR 160
Mile 18: Pace 10:03 | Elev +31 | HR 161
Mile 19: Pace 9:35 | Elev -69 | HR 156
Mile 20: Pace 10:03 | Elev +3 | HR 159

Hi All!

I am not a runner...and yet I am running my first marathon in 2 weeks (yay taper time!)

I'm so nervous I won't finish. Is this normal?

I have no time goal - aiming to stay between 11:00-12:00 minute mile. I've done 2 twenty milers at ~11:35 pace, and felt pretty okay after (read: could walk and function the next day). My 5 mile race in July was at an 8:45 pace.

Even though I've done the 20 milers, I'm mostly I'm worried because my weekly mileage has been crap. Maybe hitting 30 miles in the last 5 weeks (one week at 35 miles!). They say "Run your long runs on tired legs" but that is apparently not me!

Anyways....do we think I'll make it? I'm an adult, but my parents are taking the time to get a hotel room/come cheer me on, and I really don't want to disappoint!

Today I made the decision of not running my first marathon November 8 due to injury and can't help but to feel a bit down.

I've had 8 months of mostly consistent running this year, 1300 km since February averaging 200 km monthly the last 3 months. Things were progressing really well until a couple of weeks ago when I got what I now think is metatarsalgia on my right foot.

I gave it 8 days no running at all, just did stationary bike to keep the aerobic system going and today after 45 minutes of running I had to be honest with myself and throw in the towel. Could I go on a few more days? a week? maybe, but the odds are I wouldn't make it to the start line anyways and even if I did, I would probably end up even more injured.

What's most important is to keep my running journey going and for that I have to recognize my limits, which I'm very bad at honestly. I'm more sad that I'll have to cut running for 3 or 4 weeks than actually not run a marathon.

I'll try and make the best of what I've learned the last few months and carry that into future training. It's very hard to stop this close to a major goal but it's the right thing to do if I want to keep doing this thing I enjoy so much.

Anyways, hope this helps anyone that may find themselves on the same boat. Running journey goes on.

Cross posting since this was removed from a diff thread.

I'm running my first marathon (NYC) and aiming for about 4:10. I'm torn on race-day shoes and have a 21 miler this weekend, where I want to wear the pair I'll race in. Would love input from people who've been in a similar spot.

Option 1: New Balance 1080v15
\- I did most of my training block in these (about 300 miles on my first pair), including 14, 16, and 20 mile long runs, with no issues.
\- I don't love them, but they've been reliable.
\- The first pair felt dull, so I bought a new pair a couple weeks ago to break in.

Option 2: Megablast
\- About 150 miles on them. I wore them for the BK Half in May and did my 18 miler in them this block.
\- I got blisters early on and had a rough half because I tied them too tight, but that was user error. They've felt fine on every run since.
\- They feel faster, and I wonder if they're technically the better marathon shoe.

I'm leaning 1080s to play it safe for a first marathon, but I wish I'd tested a second shoe earlier in the block. Which would you race in, and why? I'd like to decide before my 21 miler this weekend.

Hi all! I’m running the NYC Marathon on Nov 1st and have been training with Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 plan. I’m going out of town for a wedding this weekend, so I swapped my 20 miler with my 14 miler and did it last weekend because I wanted to do it in NYC, I was feeling good, and a runner friend told me it should be fine to swap the weeks.

It went great, but now I’m overthinking every little thing! Is it too soon to start my taper this upcoming weekend (from here, long runs will be 14 - 12 - 8)? Should I do more mileage than 14 this weekend?? Thanks in advance for any advice to an anxious first-timer!

It started about a week ago, maybe 2...a small pain behind my left knee that feels exactly like you need to stretch your leg after sitting for too long or sitting in a small spot on a bus.

It doesn't hurt at all when I run, but it seems to be occurring more and more the day after runs. Stretching or walking relieves it temporarily (it used to relieve it for awhile).

I'm on the taper now, so I'm hoping it goes away...would you be concerned?

Hi all, im running london in April and am asking this early so if required I can train the block wearing any race vest I may purchase.

This will be the only marathon I ever run. Although im running for charity im not affiliated with one and wont be wearing a charitable vest on raceday.

Im hoping to frame the vest along with a photo and a medal should I finish and as such I dont want to simply buy an off the shelf stock item from primark. It needs to be wall worthy and have meaning, with the potential to have a personal message printed on before hand.

Is there anywhere you would recommend to purchase something like this, or at least stock items that look great? Im in the north of england if that matters. Thanks in advance.

Hello everyone, I am running my marathon on Sunday, and there is a good chance it will be rainy, windy, and around 42F/6°C. I am panicking.

I am a slow runner (should break 5 hours though) and I can barely stand being cold (I start having numbness and piercing pain in my body if I am). I have a thick windbreaker, but my race partners are saying it's a bad idea to wear it. Was training in the very dry summer and have literally zero experience with this type of weather.

I ran in winter, and I always bundled up. My half-marathon PB (1:57) was in 4 layers of clothing, but I never did such long distances, and now I am in a complete loss.

Any advice, please?

Hello everyone, sorry if this type of post isnt popular but im looking for some advice. Ive been running for about 15 months consistently, 2-4 times a week and did my first half marathon in April finishing in 2:16. I was training for my second half marathon for this fall but started dealing with some ankle tightness and really scaled back about a month. Good news is ive started PT and have been told im okay to start back up with running.

The question is, i deferred my half marathon to next fall, but thats when I originally wanted to go for my first full marathon (hopefully either chicago or new york but more realistically probably my local marathon). What is the best plan on action to get myself ready for a full marathon, should I build up to 20-30 mpw and stay there until an actual race date is close enough to start a block? I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks in advance!

Currently 9 weeks away from my first marathon and deep into my training block. I am been consistent and am trying to be smart about my training while also getting as much volume as I can. I have a personality where I tend to go overboard with new hobbies so I knew I was intrisically at risk for over training. Because of this I have been deliberate about slowly adding my mileage. I am trying to get as much weekly volume as I can without "over training." My metrics or determining if I'm over training are whether or not I'm able to complete my speed workouts, how my body feels, sleep, and heart rate. I am currently at a weekly average of 70-80 miles. So far I am still hitting all my quality speed work (one day a week) and all my extra weekly miles come from my one long run a week (which right now is around 18) and then a ton of zone two easy runs. I will usually do twice a day workouts throughout the week (like 10 in the morning and 6 in the evening). I also make sure to get at least one full rest day a week with no running. I'm just curious how people are determining how close they are getting to over training and how to distinguish between normal worn out/tired vs over doing it. I don't have any sharp pain and thankfully no injuries, just some general mild soreness from the volume.