Advice for First-Time Marathoners, Part II: Establish a Reasonable Goal

Lesson #2: For the majority of first-timers, you should have only one goal: to finish the marathon. Do not worry about the finishing time, apart from finishing within the time limit (if any).

Do you have a specific marathon that you are looking to get into, or do you just want to run something relatively local by a specific date? When you have chosen the marathon (and hence the date) that you want to run, find out what the time limit is. Each course works differently. Permits are needed for road closures, police to help guard the runners (especially at intersections with traffic), and plenty of other logistics go into the determination as to how long the race provides for the last runners to cross the finish line. These time limits are typically within the 5-7 hour range, and some even leave the race clock running for up to 24 hours, though there isn't any course support after a certain point. (You need to verify those logistics on those particular races before setting out.) Most races (at least in the U.S.) provide their minimum paces based on the last person to cross the start line.

Once you have the time limit that you must beat and the date by which you need to have the fitness for that, figure out if you have at least 16 weeks for a training plan. You need to figure out what your level of fitness is. What is a comfortable speed for you? How long can you maintain an "easy" pace? There are plans out there that help people go from "Couch to 5k" (i.e., no fitness level to being able to complete a 5k) and progress onward to other plans and progressively longer races -- up to a marathon (and beyond). I have another post earlier on the blog (Resources) that lists some of the plans, websites, etc. that are available for use. There are tons more. In the end, though, just make sure you are doing what you need to finish. After you've got one marathon under your belt, then you can decide on the progressively more difficult goals (faster times, number of races within a specified time frame such as listed in the criteria for Marathon Maniacs, setting a Guinness World Record -- which isn't necessarily as difficult as you might think, etc.).