First One Done - Thanks for the advice!

Finished my first—and hopefully not last—marathon yesterday in Allentown PA. 3:28, which beat my goal by 2 minutes. Thrilled with the result!

Thanks to everyone here for the useful information all along the way. I’ve run for many years but never took on the marathon distance. Most recent half was 1:38 in September. Always an injury or kid duties as a reason (excuse?) not to commit. Finally got smarter about race nutrition, stretching, strength training and pacing. Turns out you need it for 26 miles! Used Higdons intermediate 1 plan and had to cut off 2 weeks (originally planned to do Phila but missed the sign up!). Psyched myself out about ITBS issues that would prevent me from getting to the start line as recently as 2 weeks ago but miraculously I was spared of them yesterday.

Had planned to try to negative split—start conservative at 8:10 and decrease at 8 miles and then again later. Ended up just trying to stick to just below 8:00 and hang on. What really helped was running with someone trying to keep same pace as me. Did that for about 16 miles and it was a life saver, especially in a very small race.

Splits are below. HR never felt unsustainable except for last 2 miles. Started to have random craps all over then as well which may have been under fueling but, honestly, I couldn’t stomach the all of the recommended carb loading!

Thanks again. Great group here.

Finished my first—and hopefully not last—marathon yesterday in Allentown PA. 3:28, which beat my goal by 2 minutes. Thrilled with the result!

Thanks to everyone here for the useful information all along the way. I’ve run for many years but never took on the marathon distance. Most recent half was 1:38 in September. Always an injury or kid duties as a reason (excuse?) not to commit. Finally got smarter about race nutrition, stretching, strength training and pacing. Turns out you need it for 26 miles! Used Higdons intermediate 1 plan and had to cut off 2 weeks (originally planned to do Phila but missed the sign up!). Psyched myself out about ITBS issues that would prevent me from getting to the start line as recently as 2 weeks ago but miraculously I was spared of them yesterday.

Had planned to try to negative split—start conservative at 8:10 and decrease at 8 miles and then again later. Ended up just trying to stick to just below 8:00 and hang on. What really helped was running with someone trying to keep same pace as me. Did that for about 16 miles and it was a life saver, especially in a very small race.

Splits are below. HR never felt unsustainable except for last 2 miles. Started to have random craps all over then as well which may have been under fueling but, honestly, I couldn’t stomach the all of the recommended carb loading!

Thanks again. Great group here.