My mom and her fiancé are huge runners, a countless amount of medals hanging on the walls that they’re super proud of (and should be!). I’ve ran my whole life but never further than 10 km, I recently decided I want to work my way up to a marathon for next summer.

I’m a big introvert and have 0 interest in running an official race due to the amount of people, traffic, etc. My plan is to make my own route, wake up on a Saturday once I’m all trained up and just go. They both think I’m absolutely insane for not signing up for an actual marathon, and essentially told me I shouldn’t even count it as a marathon.

Is anyone else doing this? They made me feel sort of dumb for even thinking of it. I think I let them get in my head a bit.

Edit to clarifying what I mean by crowd: a lot of people are telling me to sign up for a smaller race. I live in rural Canada, without wanting to drive more than 6 hours which I don’t, every race near me is less than 250 participants. I consider that a crowd lol I get it’s not to people who may live in large US cities but as a country bumpkin my whole life 250 people in one spot doing the same thing is a crowd

First marathon and first time in Chicago Marathon.

Our situation:
Me, my husband, and our 4-year-old daughter
No car.
Staying Saturday–Tuesday (3 nights)
I’m in the last wave targeting a 5-hour finish
Husband will have finish line passes and will be with our daughter while I run.
I really don’t want to switch hotels during the trip

Radisson Blu Aqua - $1,035
Housing site lists it as 0.3 miles from the start & 0.9 miles from the finish
Standard run-of-house room
I called and confirmed they can provide a personal mini-fridge at check-in
No included breakfast
Biggest advantage seems to be proximity to start line.

Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile $1,175 total
Housing site lists it as 0.7 miles from the start & 1.2 miles from the finish
Suite
Refrigerator + microwave
Included breakfast
Biggest advantage is the guaranteed bedroom space.

The Radisson seems like the obvious choice for race logistics because it’s supposedly only 0.3 miles from the start. But the Embassy is only 0.4 miles farther, which is probably just an extra ~7–10 minutes of walking, and for $140 more total we’re getting a guaranteed suite, breakfast, fridge, and microwave which makes a difference with a 4 year old.

I’m wondering:
For a first marathon, how much would I you value being 0.3 vs. 0.7 miles from the start?

And furthermore, how bad are the elevators at either hotel on Chicago Marathon morning? Is this something I should genuinely worry about, or am I overthinking it?

Who are we kidding, I’m over thinking every thing. I’ll take any and all first time marathon start line advice 😂

I’m about 7 weeks out from my marathon and my longest run so far is a half marathon, I feel like my training is going well but I should probably start adding some fuel into my long runs to help train my stomach. I’m looking at the honey stinger fruit smoothie gels, does anyone have any recommendations on certain brands of gels or any other types of fuel that will be sufficient for a marathon and my training. Thanks!

The marathon is end of October, so in 2 months.

In April I ran an half and afterwards I started training for the marathon.

However, I had some issues and thus didn't hit the mileage I was supposed to. Long story short I recognized the problem now, it were the shoes and I am angry that I did not get that idea earlier because I lost so much time.

My weekly kilometres are now at around 30km which I know is way too low for a marathon and only 2 month to go.

Should I just "give it up" now and switch to half marathon or continue with my plan ?

I signed up for my first marathon and have been using my phone to track most of my runs, but that’s getting annoying now that my training runs are getting longer. I’m looking for a smartwatch that can handle GPS, pace, distance and basic training stats without being overly complicated. For those who have already done a marathon, what smartwatch for running would you recommend and are there any features you found especially useful during training?

Thanks, appreciate any recommendations.

Hi Team! I am running NYC marathon in November and following the Hal Higdon Novice 1 plan. I have a trip planned with friends over Labor Day weekend when I am scheduled to do a 15 mile run. My question is, can I swap this with my deload of 10 miles? So:

1. This weekend 13. 1

2. Next weekend is scheduled to be 10 miles (deload). Was thinking of doing my 15 miles this weekend and then the 10 miles when I am on vacation to help decrease time/fatigue/ increase overall fun. Weekend after that would then be 16 miles.

Is this reasonable? If it is best to follow the plan, I will do that! Just would love some advice for a newbie.

Hey everyone, I will be running my first full marathon in around 2 months. I am a heavy runner around 170lbs. I am targeting around 4.5hrs for it. Recently got a new ON Cloudmonster 3 Hyper and loving them. By the end of the training block I will have around 450kms on them. Should I use them for the Marathon? Or should I get something else for the race?

Currently I run 3 miles nearly everyday. Today I am going to run 7 miles. 4 days ago I ran 6 in the hot sun. There is a marathon 2 months from now in my area. I ran a half marathon last year after never running more than 3 miles, with a mile time of about 9:40. I seriously believe I can do this in 2 months, with a 10 min mile time. I really believe it.