Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Marathon

Let me start by saying, congrats on your first marathon! The decision to run 26.2 miles can be a daunting one. It involves months of training, learning what fuel works best for you, your hydration needs, and discovering the meaning of fun words like tempo, threshold and fartlek. For someone who’s never run one before, it can also be a rather scary thing.

I made the decision to run my first marathon in 2013. It was a truly amazing experience, and even a decade later, I can remember just about everything from that day. But despite all my fond memories, there are definitely a few things that I wish I had known before the training even began.

The first thing is the training plan itself. Even now, after six marathons, I still follow a training plan. But I’ve learned that it’s ok to make adjustments to that plan as needed. With a typical build up to a 20 mile long run, sometimes life isn’t going to cooperate with your need to run for 4-5 hours on a random Saturday. But that’s ok! I remember feeling defeated or discouraged if I had to switch a run to a different day or even (gasp!) cut a long run short. I tended to feel like I had somehow failed. Runners tend to be a stubborn bunch, but a skipped or shortened run will never be the be all, end all, of your marathon training. Sometimes our body knows when it’s best to scale back or take an extra rest day. Tomorrow will always be a new opportunity!

Fueling is not a one size fits all option. For example, if you post in a running forum, asking people what their favorite gel is, chances are you’ll get about 100 different answers back. And most importantly, every single answer is correct. I tested a handful of gels during my training, before settling on what I planned to use on race day. One person’s all-time favorite gel or chew that they swear by could be the one that causes you some GI distress. And believe me, that is the last thing you want during your first marathon. Or any race, for that matter. The 3 or 4 months you’ll spend training for that marathon is the perfect time to test out what works for you.

Eat! Fueling after and before a run is just as important as during. Even if you may not feel super hungry after crushing that 15 mile long run, getting some much needed nutrients back into your body, especially as it goes into recovery mode, is vital. I lost over ten pounds while I was training for my first marathon. While I know that it was partially due to my mileage ramping up, looking back, I also know that I could have done a better job of giving my body what it needed when I wasn’t running, as well. This also includes hydrating during your downtime. Think of your body as a well-oiled machine, with water being the “oil” that keeps things running (ah, puns) the best that they can.

It won’t be easy. Even if all of your training went off without a hitch, and you nailed every run and pace, there will most likely come a point in the race where all you can focus on is the growing aches and pains from parts of your body that you didn’t even know could hurt. Your legs will start screaming at you, your mind may tell you that you just can’t do this. But believe me, you CAN! Whether it be the “wall” at mile 20, or worse, even sooner, that’s the time to stop focusing on how many miles are left, and focus on where you are at that point in the race. Running a marathon can be just as tough mentally, but try focusing on something else. Maybe you’re running this race for a special person in your life. During one of my marathons, our pace group spent the entire race counting the number of dogs we saw along the course. It was a great mental distraction, especially during those inevitably tougher, later miles.

Lastly, prepare yourself for a flood of emotions. Generally speaking, I don’t really consider myself a person who cries or gets overly emotional very easily. Yet I’m pretty sure I cried at some point during all six of my marathons. My first one, however, was especially emotional. It was around mile 24 or so, the point where I knew I was about to become a full-fledged marathoner, that the tears started to flow. Crossing that finish line after your first 26.2 miles is like nothing else. So be sure to let yourself cry and feel all the emotions! You will definitely not be alone. You just did an amazing thing, after months of hard work!

Finally, as a great pacer once told us, trust your training, and remember that your first marathon is always an automatic PR!