This fall, hundreds of thousands of runners will gather on the streets around the world for marathon season. Big city races include the Chicago Marathon, Baltimore Athletics Festival and the DC Marine Corps Marathon, all in October, followed by the New York City Marathon in November.
Many runners will attempt a marathon for the first time. The 26.2-mile distance can be overwhelming for runners of all levels. Even elite competitors get nervous.
“I was terrified of the distance,” said Amby Burfoot, who made his Boston Marathon debut in 1965. He won the race three years later.
A runner’s first marathon doesn’t always go as planned. But even the most successful have walked away with lessons for the rest of us.
Mademoiselleosaki reached out to experienced runners, including an Olympic medalist, and asked them, “What would you like to know before you run your first marathon?” Here are their answers.
it’s supposed to be hard
“There’s not a single marathon I haven’t wanted to quit,” said Teal Burrell, an elite runner who competed in the 2016 and 2020 US Olympic marathon trials and has run 18 marathons. Burrell ran his first marathon in college in about four hours and now has a personal best of 2:39:11.
“Everyone is fighting the same mental battle of, ‘This is really hard. I’m not going to get over this,’” said Burrell, a 37-year-old mother of two who lives in Richmond. “I wish I had known that. It’s like a universal truth of the marathon.”
Julie Sapper, a certified trainer with the Road Runners Club of America, agrees, and it’s something she wishes she’d known before running the 2000 Marine Corps marathon.
“I think during the race I was surprised by the pain and I have never experienced so much discomfort in my life through an athletic activity,” Sapper said. “And it really scared me a little bit. Whereas now I understand that that’s part of the experience, that you feel discomfort.”
Get ready for the energy of the crowd.
Annie Frisbie, 25, wouldn’t change much about her first marathon. She finished the New York City Marathon last year as the seventh woman overall in 2:26:18.
But looking back, Frisbie, an elite runner who competes for the Minnesota Distance Elite, realized she wasn’t prepared for the noise the spectators would make. Sometimes the noise of the crowd prompted him to pick up her pace and drive her out of her area.
“I wish I knew how much energy the crowd would give you,” Frisbie said. “I definitely had too much adrenaline in certain parts of the race. What I learned from that is just not to get too excited when there are really loud parts of the course, and really try to save that energy because you’re going to need it in the last six miles.”
Be patient until mile 20
After failing to reach his goal of running a 2:12 marathon (by just 35 seconds), Olympian Meb Keflezighi told people he never wanted to run the marathon again. Looking back, the 47-year-old said: he understands that he was simply impatient and did not conserve his energy correctly or evenly. Rather than remain patient at mile 16 as his trainer had instructed him, Keflezighi went for the win.
“Be patient. Mile 16, you still have 10 miles to go,” said Keflezighi, who won a silver medal in the marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics. By the time you reach mile 20, you can take more risks, he said. “Do amazing” the last 10 km, he added.
Burfoot, the 1968 Boston Marathon champion and former executive editor of Runner’s World, didn’t believe in the power of mental marathon preparation in his youth.
Now 76 and retired, Burfoot has finished approximately 80 marathons and is an advocate of the use of mantras. Research has shown that motivational self-talk during exercise can improve endurance performance.
“The race is as much of a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge,” Burfoot said. “So I tell people to have their mantras worked out ahead of time and rehearse them and be ready when they need them.”
The quote “Pain is temporary, pride is forever” has kept Burfoot going through marathons. “I’m sure there have been many, many other runners who have used thoughts like that to keep going,” he said.
Use the 20 degree rule to decide what to wear
Tony Reed wore sweatpants, a sweatshirt, gloves, and a hat to the start line of the 1982 Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth. It was around 40 degrees that morning, Reed recalled. But two miles into the race, Reed began stripping off his clothes.
Now Reed, a certified trainer with the Road Runners Club of America, subscribes to what he calls the “20-degree rule,” something he didn’t know about in 1982.
“If you look at what the temperature will be when you finish the marathon and add 20 degrees to it, that’s the way you’re supposed to dress,” said Reed, co-founder and CEO of National Black. Marathoners Association. He added that the rule can vary depending on the speed of the runner.
Plan for crowded and messy hydration stations
Betsy Balgooyen Keller learned during the 2000 Chicago Marathon just how busy and overcrowded hydration stations can get. Runners gather for a glass of water or a sports drink. Discarded liquids and glasses are scattered along the path.
Today, Balgooyen Keller, a site coordinator for the Chicago Area Association of Runners, carries a disposable water bottle with her for the first few miles before throwing it away.
“You can avoid the chaos of those aid stations and use your water,” he said.
Balgooyen Keller also warns that the area around the hydration stations can be very slippery, especially for riders in the middle or back of the pack who arrive at the water stops long after the front of the pack has made a disaster. “You really have to take your time,” he said.
For Gene Demby, co-host of NPR’s Code Switch and avid runner, the excitement of his first run at the NYC Marathon in 2010 meant he skipped the first few hydration stations. It contradicted her training, which included regular hydration. “There was no reason to start freestyle that day,” Demby said. “I should have stuck to the plan.”
Runners can only finish their first marathon once. Seize the moment and celebrate the training it took to get to the starting line. Whether you’re an elite marathoner hoping to get on the podium or a first-time marathoner just wanting to finish, everyone starts and finishes in the same place.
“Your first marathon is very special because you have no expectations,” Sapper said. “So for people out there running their first marathon, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not only because it’s their first, but because you can walk into something you’ve never done before with no expectations. other than doing your best. There’s something really charming about that.”
Source: www.washingtonpost.com