I have been running for over 10 years and accomplishing 6 marathons. I also trained for my first 80k marathon and have raced in countless half marathons and events worldwide.
I have met the most amazing and dedicated people who are runners. Anyone can run, all you need is a good pair of runners, motivation and mindset. Every marathon is different and you may have a different approach each time. The rest we just take all in our stride and tackle the marathon one kilometer at a time.
What we need to consider when running your first marathon is
Training program
To run a marathon, you need to train for 12 weeks and 4 – 5 days a week with a mix of short-distance running and long-distance running
Ask yourself – How much time do you have in a week to train? Will you have to run at night or in the morning and what about weekends? What commitments do I already have? This will help also determine what time you would like to achieve your marathon and is this realistic with your training program
Food Prep
Marathon running is not just about running and training days on end. There are other components that will help you on your race day preparation and take on that 42km marathon. If you want to be a marathon runner you will need to understand how food will affect your running and what will work best for your race
What is marathon racing?
Racing can be very overwhelming and running in large groups there is a strategy that you will need to practice. Throughout your training make sure you race in smaller races and practice racing. There are many elements that you need to think about doing a race, such as weather, crowds, race maps, and how the events are organised. Another factor to think about is, the way you run with others if you have run on your own throughout your training. This can be quite difficult if you are not used to running with others
There are many reasons to run a marathon. For me, running is a way of being around like-minded people and raising money for charities and another great reason is for your general well being and good health. If you are like me, running becomes part of your everyday life!
photo by nakia stevens is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Blog by Nakia Stevens is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
