With 6 days to go, I think its time to help those who are preparing for your first marathon.
Some months ago, for whatever individual reason you decided to sign up for the Dublin Marathon. This is a monumental step, a commitment to yourself that you are going to push yourself beyond what you know to be possible and to strive to finish the greatest challenge of your life to date. Straight away you should be proud of yourself, for believing you could achieve this.
Regardless of how your training has gone to date, you need to believe you can finish what you started out to do. You need to visualise yourself crossing the finish line, meeting your loved ones, collecting your medal and walking out of Merrion Square a new person, a marathoner. In so doing, you will have completed something most will never be able to achieve, and YOU are the one doing it. It’s now time to believe in your ability.
A marathon is also a strange and unique sporting event. Everyone is in it together and there is a sense of comradery where everyone encourages the person beside them. Don’t be afraid to have a chat with someone your running beside. It will help the time fly and you will find yourself to enjoy the event much more. If you are out on your last legs near the end, you will hear the encouraging words of other runners telling you to “Come on, we’re nearly there!”. Feed off this as this is what makes a marathon special.
In running your first marathon, I also have to issue a word of caution. Know what your body is telling you. Your first marathon should not be about times. Don’t fall into the same trap that people fall into time and time again of aiming for a time and being disappointed if it’s not achieved. Your goal is not to finish under a certain time, but to finish and enjoy the journey. If you feel tired, don’t stop to walk but reduce your pace, but keep going and never give up.
Please please, don't go out too fast. The marathon starts at 20 miles. When you get past Roebuck Hill, then you can feed off the energy you have remaining. Far too often we find ourselves kicking on from 16/17/18 miles thinking we can not only achieve our target time but we have the energy to smash it. Trust me, this won't happen. Refuel, hydrate, but DON'T PANIC!! You have this, you are literally going to do the victory lap. You deserve this.
When it comes to the race itself, there are a few things you need to be conscious of. Just follow these few tips and it will help you through your journey:
If this is your first marathon, get in touch with us and leave a comment below, we’d love to hear from you. If you have any questions or worries, we’ll help you in any way we can.