I'm just gonna post it...

[baldnspicy]

This has probably been asked before but since I've previously not spent hardly any time on the discussion board, I'll just throw it out there.  So my plan for running my first full marathon (Pittsburgh, May 5) never really got up to where it needed to be a couple months ago...before it fell apart for a variety of reasons. I've continued some aerobic activity the last month, but nothing worth bragging about (mostly stationary biking).  I should be able to post some decent runs the next two weeks, but nothing long or that's going to prepare me for the marathon distance.  Plus, I'll be on family vacation from this Friday until next (2 days before the race).  I plan to get some runs in, but nothing's guaranteed.

So, here's the question:  What to do?

My options, as I see them:
1) Get my goodie bag and just skip the race.  Not a huge deal since my focus is really getting back to a regular schedule and my mileage up to where it needs to be to have a great fall half or full depending on where I am at that time.

2) "Race" the first half and then just bail on the rest of it.  I may be able to switch to the Half, but I don't feel like paying the fee when I'm not going to PR or anything.

3) Run/walk the whole course, just enjoying the experience (as much as that's possible) and stay ahead of the guys reopening the roads.

I'm open to thoughts, experiences & ideas.  Thanks!

[Sasha Pachev]

Skip the race. Defy the culture of surviving a marathon, and run it instead when you are ready to run it.

This has psychological importance. If you slog a marathon, the experience is difficult to forget. It will have the ability to plague you even when you are fit to run it fast. You will be holding back with the subconscious fear of crashing. One of the most difficult cases of a runner to work with in preparation for the marathon is the kind that thinks that it is a long distance. He never starts on pace! He starts out slow, imagines fatigue, and then runs slower! He cannot help it, it is subconscious and takes some special therapy to cure. And he gets the illness by running marathons when he is not ready.

I would approach the matter of the marathon the following way. Build up to 40 miles a week and after 6 weeks of 40 miles a week or more run an 800 meter time trial - two laps around the standard 400 meter track. Add 20 seconds to your time, then make minutes hours and seconds minutes. E.g you ran 2:30, make it 2:50, so we have 2 hours and 50 minutes. This is now your marathon target.

From that we plan your race schedule. We run the longest race that you can run at your marathon target pace. I imagine right off the bat it will be at least a 5K. So we train gradually increasing the mileage and race 5 Ks until you have a suspicion that you can race a 10 K at that pace. Then we progress to the half marathon. Throughout the process you always go out on pace. If you cannot hold it, document why and plan your training, rest, and nutrition to address the weakness. Once you are fast enough in the half that you do not feel scared to run your target pace for the first half in the marathon we transition to the marathon. Always go out at the target pace. You can jog in after that if there are problems, but do not slog the first half. If you get out of shape, we go back to the longest distance you can do at the target pace and work up from there.

[Joe]

BnS - totally agree with Sasha.  Unless you're doing some decent mileage, that marathon would be painful, not a good memory.  You never forget your first, right?  eh?

You will get there, i promise.  Put in those miles.

[Bob]

Yup, based on what you stated I would bag it and go volunteer at the race to build inspiration.  It's ok, dnf and no shows happen to even the best runners.

[baldnspicy]

Thanks, all for your comments. They're basically what I expected to hear.

I'm still debating what to do after picking up my race packet, but I know I won't be trying to cover the whole distance.  I think I may just start the race, run/walk as far as I feel like going and then just drop out.  There's a relay exchange at mile 9 that I could stop at then just walk back across the bridges.  Or I could stop before then around mile 6.  My bib specifically says Marathon, so I don't want to just follow the half marathon course when it breaks off for the last 3 miles and have everyone yelling at me that I'm going the wrong way or something.  We'll see...

[baldnspicy]

Well, I looked into volunteering, but decided to run until I felt like stopping.  Turned out OK, but I would never have made it the whole distance anyways, which I kinda figured.

Had a great day, though, so I'm glad I got out and did what I could.  Thanks for the input!