Finally taken the plunge and entered the Blackpool marathon April next year. Anyone else planning on doing this or have done it before. I’ll be doing a half 2 weeks before this as well. Is two weeks long enough rest/taper for the marathon?

Drawing up my training programme, have a 15m in Oct so that should be a good halfway marker. What’s the most difficult/challenging part of one/ what to watch out for?

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My Goals for 2010
Sub 42min - 10k
Sub 1h12 - 10 miles
Sub 1h35 - half marathon
Sub 4 hour Marathon – Edinburgh

I've done the half and went to support some friends doing the marathon this year. Its not the most scenic of marathons you do two laps through the town and last few miles involve running along the concrete path along he sea front which can seem like forever particularly on the second lap. The first lap will be quite crowded as you will be running with the HM runners and then the second lap will feel quite lonely.

I found he last 4 miles of a marathon the toughest physically and mentally. Tapers usually go on a couple of weeks and you might suffer from something called taper madness where you will be tempted to go out and run more miles and enter more races just before the marathon try not to be tempted as there is a higher risk of injury and it would be a shame not to make it to the start after all the training you would have put in.

With regards to running a HM marathon 2 weeks before well um I'm going to do that as well before my next marathon and a trail race the week before. I probably won't race the trail race just treat it as a training run

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Steady Eddie marathon runner

Sub 2:16 HM at Four Villages 17/01/2010 set by Twinnies

The early bird catches the worm

As it will be my first one am just aiming to finish it and then just take it from there for others. So for this not really bithered about scenary although I can already guess what it'll be like running on the never ending forever runway of the seafront after walking up and down before when i've visted Blackpool in the past. I'll give it a go and see how I fare. (Hoping its pretty flat as hills are still my weakpoint).

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My Goals for 2010
Sub 42min - 10k
Sub 1h12 - 10 miles
Sub 1h35 - half marathon
Sub 4 hour Marathon – Edinburgh

Hi there!

Me and my two friends are going to do the Blackpool marathon next year and it's our first one too. We did the Blackpool half marathon this year and we really enjoyed it. That is the furthest we have run so we will just be glad to finish it next year too!! We've decided to take it easy over the next few months and then start to pick it up in October. I think we have also discussed doing a half marathon later this year as a practice so I think the 15 mile one you have planned is a great idea, plus I think it gives you something to aim for as April seems quite far away at the mo.

We live in Blackpool and avoid the promenade when we are training as it can be a bit boring running in a straight line but it is a nice route on the day of the race. But seeing as though it will be 2 laps next year I will no doubt regret saying that!

My worst part of the half marathon was around the 7/8 mile mark where you run for what seems like ages on the lower walk of the prom, as there were not a lot of people watching and I think i just had a dip in energy.

I'm sure you will enjoy it though, we got chatting to people on the way round and everyone was really friendly. There were lots of serious runners but also lots who were doing it for charity, just for fun or for personal achievement.

By the way, it is pretty flat most of the way although there is a hill around the 10 mile mark where you come up from the lower walk onto the upper promenade but it's not steep :-)