First marathon done
My First Marathon 4:15, and I couldn't be happier (even though I missed my goal)
Ran my first ever marathon yesterday after only about 5 months of running. Goal was sub-4, which I knew going in was ambitious for a first-timer with that little base, but I wanted to chase it anyway.
Finished in 4:15. Missed the goal by about 15 minutes, and I'm genuinely thrilled with it.
Some context I ran a half marathon about a month out in under 2 hours, so I had some evidence the fitness was there. Held right around 8:50/mile for almost 19 miles on race day before my legs just gave out not a cardio thing, my heart rate actually dropped as I slowed down in the last 10K, which tells me the aerobic engine had more to give, my legs just weren't durable enough yet for the full distance. Makes sense 5 months isn't a ton of time to build that kind of mileage tolerance.
Honestly proud of how I paced it. In training, my two longest runs (a 20-miler and 22-miler) both fell apart way earlier than mile 19. So even with the slowdown at the end, this was a big step up in how far I could hold real pace before the wheels came off.
I used Runna for this training block and it worked well, but I've recently found TrainingPeaks and I'm planning to switch over for the next cycle.
Already plotting what's next some dedicated speed work, then back to marathon #2 eventually. But today I'm just sitting with this one. 5 months ago I wasn't a runner at all.