Weeknotes 14 - A few thoughts about running a marathon

Following the progress of runners in Brighton Marathon and wondering if I should enter a marathon.

It was the Brighton Marathon at the weekend and a lot of folks that I know from Horsham Joggers took part in the race. There were some fantastic times and I take my hat off to everyone who participated. It’s an amazing effort to run that distance. Well done and congratulations!

I’m not sure that I could get round a marathon course. I’ve found that half marathons (and any distance over 10 miles) are a challenge. But, I have been running HMs at approx 1:55 pace. If I dial down my expectations, that would be more realistic and may mean that the full marathon might be possible. I’m not totally convinced though.

I’ve been out on the shorter Sunday runs with the club’s marathon training group and I can see that they have put in a lot of miles since starting in January. Yet, I’d probably want to start training before that. I need to feel more confident that I have a solid base.

If I run a marathon, I would definitely try and follow a pacer rather than my own (usually too fast at the start) pace. And I would need a much better nutrition strategy during the race. A gel or two might get me round the HM distance but it’s not nearly enough. Even for HMs, I need to learn more about nutritional aspects.

I don’t really know how hard a full marathon would be. Clearly, it’s very tough to complete it.

It’s a great achievement to be able to run a marathon. I’d love to be able to say that I’ve done one.

Overall though, at this point, I’ve decided to stick with my original plan. Take part in HMs and run a few more longer distances. Then, decide later in the year if next year’s Brighton race (or another) is a target for me.