Help! 8 weeks until... (Read 745 times)

Bah! chicken... I'm running the full (Hartford, that is). My mileage sux, as usual, but I do some crosstraining as well. I'll be fine.

"I just don't feel like a runner without completing the golden distance." This has to be one the biggest misconceptions there is around the various runner's forums. All you have to do is look at the top marathoners in the world. Virtually all of them spend much longer than the average weekend warrior working on shorter distances before moving up to the marathon. And in many cases their reason for moving to the marathon is because they have started to slow down, NOT because they believe it is any more of an accomplishment to run a good marathon than it is a good 10k. If you want to find out what it's like to run 26 miles, just go out some morning and run one on your own or with a friend if you can find one nutty enough. That's what I did before I ever put a number on and ran one (I couldn't find anyone nutty enough to do it with me). Wait until you've handled marathon training for a while before you pay to run one with a number on. You are doing pretty well off limited limited training and I'm sure you can improve a lot. Don't settle for crumbs.

Ahhh, yes, the argument of the old purist. Only run a race if you can truly "race" it, if all you can muster is a mid-pack performance, then you haven't paid your dues, etc., etc. I ran my first marathon on 45 mpw (peak) according to some first-timer program on Runner's World. It hurt when I finished, but I got in in less than 4 hours and I was hooked on marathons. I know elite marathoners don't believe running a marathon is any more of an accomplishment than a 10K, but I am not elite and to me improving on my marathon times is a bigger deal than improving a 5 or 10K time. It takes more training, more effort, it is in fact a bigger deal to me. FWIW, I think the OP's mileage is too low to do a marathon 7 weeks from now, but I don't see why he needs to do a 26 mile training run or put in 110 mile weeks before he gives it a shot.