I would love to do a marathon ....

[MellyAmos]

I'm new to being active! I get my step goal quite easily because I do not drive and I have to two-step it everywhere! 

I would love advice on how to start and how to get motivated! 

add me and let's get motivated! 

[Corney]

I did my first marathon at 39,but I had been running for over 10 years.  A friend talked me into it because he wanted that goal to help him quit smoking.  I trained for over 9 months to get ready, and along the way I used a mini triathalon as part of my training.  I had already built up solid base of running 6-7 miles everyday, so my base was about 45 miles per week.  I built up my base 10% per week, buy adding a longer run every Saturday.  The Marathon was in October, so by September I had run three 21-23 mile training runs, just so Psychologically I knew I could finish the 26.2 miles.  I then weaned off the long runs on Saturday to between 13 and 15 miles, but kept up my 6-7 mile training runs M-F and on Sunday.  Alas, my friend who talked me into it sustained numerous training injuries and didn't run the marathon, but he did quit smoking.  I'm not advising anyone to follow my regiem, it worked for me.  I finished under my goal time and never hit the wall.  5 years later I ran the same marathon 3 minutes slower than the first.  Runners World is a good magazine and offers runners alot of good advice on many topics including how to train for races of varying distances.  Good luck.  Oh the only thing that truly motivated me was the running itself.  Remember running is 90% Psychological, 10% Physical.  If you believe you can do it, you can do it!

[WendyB]

You can do it if you work yourself up to it.

[chemie]

We have an event here which has 13km , half marathon and marathon distances.

By doing one longer each year I moved up to marathon distance.

Don't underestimate what you are possible off.

Just a matter of what pace you want to do it at.

[Corney]

I agree, training properly by not increasing distances to rapidly, setting a pace, or time goal that is reasonable, you can do almost anything if you set your mind to it.  Remember running races is not just physical, it's mostly mental.  I mean going into a race knowing in your mind that you have trained properly, set a realistic goal, and avoiding the uncertainty that sometimes hits runners during a race.  Always stay positive! 

[fitmissjen]

Hi @MellyAmos,

There are some really awesome apps available now which can help you train for your first event, whether it be 5k, 10k, a half marathon and beyond!

Are you looking at walking or running your first Marathon?

[MellyAmos]

My first one walking! I want to make my way up to running!

[Corney]

I did my first marathon after I'd benn running 10 years.  Build up a solid running base, I started unable to run 1 mile, slowly worked up to 6-7 miles everyday.  I started my marathon training 9 months prior to the raceby gradually increasing my weekly mileage 10% per week.  3 months before the race I would do a long run on Saturday slowly increasing to 21-22 miles.  One week before the race I decreased my long run to 12-15.  The long runs of 21-22 miles was to prepare me psychologically so I knew I could do it.  There are many programs out there to help you prepare for a marathon, you might want to look into one of those.

My advice would be to set your goal to finish, don't set an unrealistic time, just finish.