How often to race??? (Read 451 times)

I have to admit I am becoming addicted to the long run and as my 1st marathon approaches I am less nervous and more excited. I guess the fact that finishing will set a PR takes alot of stress off me b/c I am confident in finishing unless something drastic happens. Well, some family have mentioned that there are half and full marathons in their home cities...and I would LOVE to run them...more for the fun and experience of it than anything else (as well as another excuse to go visit), but is there some kind of rule in running too many too soon. Here is what I would like to do for my 2nd marathon. 1st - St. Jude's in Memphis on Dec.6th, 2008 - this is the one I have worked for since June. I am confident in finishing and now am concentrating on building endurance. THIS IS PRIORITY #1 2nd - FirstLight Marathon on Jan. 11th, 2009 - just for fun and a t-shirt and to visit family. What harm would it do to approach this as a long run and just have some fun and meet some new people. (yes, I said I want to do this one for the "fun" of it. ) Is this ok to do as long as my training stays somewhat steady?

Any reason you can't run the first marathon and then decide whether to register for the second? Would it do any harm? (shrug) I dunno. Probably not. I've done several 2-3 weeks apart. Usually PR the second one. Could it do harm? Yeah. Is the risk worth it? You decide. I love running back to back marathons. But I didn't start out doing it that way. You might want to at least think about it - at least the finish the first one - before you decide. Some people run 50+ a year. Some people seem to get hurt if they do 3 a year. And at this point, you don't know which one you are. So be careful.

I don't know if first light has a 1/2 mar. option, but you could consdier doing that as well. You still get the family visit and a T-shirt, but without as much physical stress as doing a full. As Srlopez suggested it would be a good idea to do the full and then evaluate when, or even if, you want to do another, especially another so soon. Personally, I would not at all want do two marathons so close together, nor would I want to do one "just for fun", but that's me. There are some who run marathons on consecutive weekends or even consecutive days and that is how they get their enjoyment out of the sport, and there are people in bewteen find what works for you. P.S. - I'll be there with you in Memphis, but I definitely will not be running another full in January (although there is a 10-Mile race here on Jan 1st, which I'll probably do)