Marathon advice

In the fall of last year, I ran a 2.57 marathon and recently improved to 2.49.

This was a huge improvement over my four-hour marathons a little over a decade ago (I’m forty-two now, so I was in my late twenties then). Back then I didn’t take marathons seriously. My friend and I ran because it was kind of cool to do a marathon and brag about it. Of course, most recently I trained a lot for my sub-three-hour marathons, but this story is not about my training per se. Rather, I wanted to share more general tips.

• I strongly recommend running consistently at least for a year before signing up for a marathon. I realize that the act of signing up can act as a motivator. You have a date in mind and (hopefully) start training for it. However, I strongly believe that running a marathon should be one of the outcomes or byproducts of consistent running, not a goal of its own. So again — run consistently for at least a year, then sign up for a race, for example in the later part of your second year of consistent running. What is “consistent”? I’d say at least three-four days every week. Ideally five-six.
• Running a marathon is a big achievement, but I recommend against the mentality of it being a one-off occasion, an item on your “things to do before I die” bucket list. If you run consistently, the marathon experience should ideally be a recurring endeavor. Kind of like a vacation! And running multiple marathons as you age is more impressive than doing a single race.
• I was so full of myself after my first sub-three hour…