Hi all,

First post on here. Hope all are well. I'm doing the Edinburgh a week sunday and it is my first attempt at a marathon. I have been training for around 6 months, although i have had weeks where i have only been for 1 run. Some weeks i do 4 or 5 runs, but i do physical job where i'm active all day and a lot of evenings i'm out quoting for jobs so sometimes i might get home at 6, then out quoting until 8 then by the time i have had something to eat it's 9 o clock. I do 10 miles fairly easy and most of my runs involve some hills / inclines - i live in Derbyshire and there are lots of hills! I have always playe football so my base fitness is fairly good. I did my longest run last saturday, 18 miles. It was boiling aswell and i ran out of water after 10 miles - schoolboy error! After i stopped i felt sick, i know it was because of the heat / lack of water. This was the only 2hour plus run i have done, do you think i will be able to complete it on the big day?

I know of a guy in America who trains runners from being beginners to being able to complete marathons (with the emphasis on complete, rather than race); and I think that the longest run which his runners do in their build-up is something like 18-20 miles. So it can be done. This guy has an interesting web site you might want to check out...
www.joehenderson.com

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ONLY THOSE WHO WILL RISK GOING TOO FAR CAN POSSIBLY FIND OUT HOW FAR THEY CAN GO.

I have no advice for you, all I'l say is good luck.

Cheers, i'm looking forward to it though

Hi Brunsy,
Edinburgh will be my first Marathon as well and I look to complete it in 4 hours 30min, if it takes longer then it takes longer
My longest run so far has been 18miles and this is me on target to complete the marathon. Ive been training since January and been following a training plan quite strict.

I reckon as long as you have water and maybe some energy bars you will be fine, just take your time and aim to complete the marathon and don't worry about the time.

Im going for the experience and the atmosphere. Plus I can say to my friends, Ive ran a marathon

O.

Good luck, Burnsy and Owain!

Burnsy, it sounds like your preparation is actually pretty decent for a first marathon. I always say it's important to do a few long runs, 18 miles is perfect

For race day, if it's hot, make sure you visit the water stations and aim to drink at least 1 litre of water through the course of the race (preferably more) As Owain said, a couple of energy gels or chocolate bars mid-way through will likely help as well. And try not to start too fast! This is what everyone does in a marathon race. Start >SLOW<, try to keep your pace steady, remember that the last 6 miles are the hard part, and look forward to overtaking some of the people who started too fast later on

Have fun!

Good luck to you both.

Owain.
Forget the 4 1/2 hour target (Sounds too ambitious to me.But then what do I know,I`ve never run a marathon.... )

Enjoy it, and concentrate on finishing.

Good luck to both of you. And good for you, Burnsy, for sticking with your schedule despite a busy and long work day - I finished work at 2am this morning, up with kids at seven and out running later this morning before work, so I know all about that. I can't offer any advice really but I would want it to be enjoyable more than anything else. Best wishes

You can definitely do it. I managed my first marathon after a longest run of 14 miles. But as a lot of the replies have already pointed out - GO SLOWLY - even if you feel like everyone is overtaking you, just let them. The last 6 miles or so took me to levels of discomfort that I've never experienced before - but the sense of achievement on reaching the finish line was huge (even though it took me nearly 5 hours).

I think the best piece of advice I got was to treat your first marathon as a training run for your next one.

Good luck Burnsey

And to you Owain - hope all goes well on the day

Thanks everyone. I think if I get in, in 4:30 I would be very happy, but if I just finish it I will be even happier

"Treat your first marathon as a training run for our next one" Ha Ha Ha.....who says Im doing another one after this lol.

O.