Taking it one step at a time...approach to running your first marathon
I've heard many people say, "I could never run a marathon!" Yes, some runners physically are unable to run that distance, but many runners haven't given themselves enough credit and could definitely conquer 26.2 miles if they tried. You can run a marathon - if you really want to do it.
I thought the same exact way for many years. There was no way that I could run that far and I had no intentions of trying. I ran 5k and 10k races and the occasional 10 - 12 mile training run, so how would I be able to run for 26.2 miles in one race?
Running a marathon isn't a prerequisite to be a runner and you can definitely be healthy and log plenty of miles without ever completing in one. Yet, many of us are drawn to it and want to add that distance to our list of accomplishments. I know I was one and while I often publicly told people I couldn't do it - I wondered on many runs if I had it in me.
It wasn't until I started running with others with marathons under their belts that began to believe I could finish one too. We ran similar distances, speeds and miles each week, so why could they do it and not me? What was holding me back?
I soon realized that I was stuck on the 26.2 miles and the end of the race. I kept worrying about finishing and that was holding me back. I decided to focus on the beginning of the race and what I knew - not what I didn't know. I'd run up to 12 miles to that point, which was almost half way - so I was pretty confident I could finish the first half. Now I only had to concentrate on the second half of the race.
Already I was feeling much better about my chances of finishing and took the first leap of faith and signed up for the Chicago Marathon in February 2010. I now had 8 months to figure out the second half. I decided I needed to run at least 22 miles in one run to feel comfortable making the leap to 26.2. I figured I could run a 4 mile run under any conditions, so I set out to increase the longest distance I'd run in my life from 12 miles to 22 miles.
My game plan was to increase my long run distance by 1 mile every two weeks for the first three months and then by 1 mile once a month for the next 3 months. This meant that I would run a 12 and 13 miler in February, 14 and 15 miler in March, 16 and 17 miler in April, 18 miler in May, 19 miler in June, 20 miler in July and 21 miler in August and 22 miler in September. The other runs would not exceed this maximum and mean that they'd all be distances that I run before.
This approach really worked well for me and allowed me to focus most of my attention and energy running miles that I was sure I could run and not on the finish line. I focused less on what I "couldn't" do and more I what I "could" do. Too often we get discouraged by the big goal and don't take the opportunity to set smaller goals that we can accomplish on our way to the larger goal. Using the above approach, I very quickly gained the confidence to run a marathon and completed my first marathon in October 2010. All races start with the first step, so if you start there as well - you'll be much more likely to get to that last step.
- cb