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Way back in 2011, I trained for and finished my first marathon. Notice that I didn’t say I ran my first marathon. At about 18.5 miles, I approached an aid station to grab a drink. As the volunteer handed me a cup of water, I fumbled it a little in my hand. The next thing I knew, without making any conscious decision on the matter, I had stopped running and began to walk. From there on out, despite a few feeble attempts at resuming my run, I could only walk. In spite of the months of training, my body had simply had enough. I did have some sense of accomplishment as I crossed that finish line, but was not completely satisfied.

I could only say that I had completed, finished, done, raced, etc. a marathon, but never run one. That ate at me for six long years until I finally decided to give it another shot. This time, I signed up for two marathons just a month apart. I figured if I didn’t make it on the first, I’d have another chance with the second.

I soon found myself at the starting line of the White River Marathon in Cotter, AR, the same race, I attempted six years earlier. This time, I blew past the same point at 18.5 miles and felt good. However, that’s about when things got a whole lot harder. My pace slowed, and as I hit the turnaround, a strong wind began to blow in my face. At mile 21, my body was screaming for me to stop. I decided to push on another mile to see if I could get through. At mile 22, it was even worse, so I began walking. I did manage another mile of running the rest of the way out, and met my secondary goal of staying under five hours, but I still could not say I had run a marathon.

After much internal debate, I decided to go through with my second attempt at the 3 Bridges Marathon in Little Rock, AR. Around 20 miles, it got really hard. I continued to run, even though my paced slowed to the point where it took a while to overtake people walking ahead of me. But, it was still a run. I thought to myself, “I never want to do this again! If I start walking now though, I may have to give it another attempt sometime again. So, I’ve got to keep going.” With just a quarter mile left, I felt a sharp pain in my hip and thought “not now, when I’m so close”. However, after a few more strides, the pain subsided and I continued to plod along. Finally, after years of mild frustration and a grueling day of self-inflicted torture, I crossed the finish line. I ran a marathon!

Will I ever do it again? Probably. It doesn’t seem as bad now that it’s over (oh, how easy it is to forget the pain).

If you’ve never run a marathon yourself, here are some things I learned that may help you in your journey:

1. Let your failures work as motivation

Look, if you’ve finished a marathon, but didn’t run the whole time, I’m not going to hold it against you. In fact, you may have even had a faster time than me. Having failed at running the whole way was what motivated me. Find some failure or obstacle that haunts you and let it drive you forward even when things are hard.

2. Stay hydrated

I love the volunteers at races. They really make these events special. That being said, a cup of water or Gatorade, every few miles is not enough to get me through a whole marathon. I like to bring my own water with me in a hydration pack. Water in the bladder and two bottles of Gatorade in the front. This isn’t for everyone (especially elite runners), but worked for me.

3. Eat while you run

If you don’t get enough sugar in while you’re running, you are likely to hit the wall sooner and much harder. Practice eating while you run so you are used to it on race day. Go to a running store and buy different types of gels, gummies, jelly beans, etc. to try during training. Find what works for you. In my first marathon I read that they provided gels at the aid stations, so I didn’t bring anything of my own. They did, in fact, provide gels. All were the same disgusting flavor.

4. Distract your mind

Many races do not allow headphones or strongly discourage their use. Don’t break the rules. However, if they are allowed, I find that listening to an exciting audiobook is a great way to distract my mind from the difficulty of the run. Coincidentally, the main character of a novel I was listening to in my last marathon was going through an excruciating physical ordeal just as I hit mile 20. I could empathize.

5. Plan for the post-marathon marathon

If you have not read my post on the post-marathon marathon, please do. Make sure to do everything possible to plan for an easy time after the marathon. The added stress of worrying about how you will function the rest of the day is not helpful.

There you go. If you haven’t do so yet, I wish you luck in running your first marathon.