Running a Marathon

Running marathons is more about the state of mind. You need to enjoy running to be able to run a marathon. It requires dedication. And it requires more dedication to improve your PR. First time around, there is a goal. Something you haven't done. And that can be exciting. You beat the barriers one by one. First, you beat 8 miles, face blisters, bleeding nipples, broken toes, find the right shoes. Then you go on to beat 10 miles and then half marathon, 15, 18, 20 miles. And suddenly, you are ready for your first marathon. All this is exciting as you push your limits. And it takes time. It's not done in a day. It takes at least 3 months to get there. A more typical time frame is 6 months and all this if you run injury free. As you push distance, you could run into ITB, patella, shin splits or god knows what. Harder you run, more injury prone you are.

But, once you have done your marathons, what's next? First marathon is all about completion. You may have a target time that you may or may not meet but the challenge is in finishing it. Once you finished it, next goal shows up - getting your PR. If your first run was good, believe me getting a PR will be harder. You need to run every week, do at least 3 days a week to improve your PR. You need to do speed workouts, hill workouts and long runs. If you are not consistent, you can quickly fall back to old pace. At some point, it gets to be difficult to improve your pace. For me, 8 minutes a mile is the next barrier. But with age, if you are over 35, you are likely to slow down a little anyway. On average, you need to run at least 25 miles to maintain or get slightly better. A 35 mile a week will probably improve your running at a faster pace. And that cannot happen unless you are running at least 4 days a week, one of which is a long run with over 12 miles each week.

All this needs a tough mindset and at some level you have to enjoy this running, otherwise you simply can't do it.