A Brief Conversation — THAT PRETTY RUNNER

I was having a conversation with a friend and their daughter about running certain distances at certain ages. I have no idea what is normal for other people in terms of extra long distance running. The conversation had me thinking, what pain will they be in running a marathon or would they feel that way running a half marathon? How do I make a recreational marathon training program for my friend.. is there a way to do it? As an athlete, I am very good at making health and wellness programs, perhaps training others for recreational 5k’s. Making marathon or half-marathon programs for other people is out of my comfort zone.

I started to run marathons a little on the younger side, and wondering what my life would be like if I waited until twenty-five. Twenty-five or thirty is a more common age to start running the marathon, because you’re full grown and it’s different. Now, I am twenty-five. For years I have thought twenty-five is the age marathon magic will be brought to the next level. This year, I originally thought I would run Boston and Berlin and then stop running, it blows my mind how things can change in either direction.

Back to the conversation, I feel like I ran my fastest half-marathon time in my teens, but maybe I could have saved the full marathon distance for later. I never felt pain running the half-marathon fast younger, was a big point that I made. However, being a marathon runner is who I am, so of course I am happy that I started when I did. To the racer, I would recommend saving the marathon distance for later in life. It is a very big leap to go from running a fast 5k to running a fast marathon. The marathon is hard to race, more than just running, because you need special strategies and techniques that take years to learn, and even then it is still a distance out of a typical comfort zone. Running marathons fast can feel like being in the Hunger Games. Personally, I feel like I had to run twenty miles a day for three years to feel a level of comfortable racing the marathon distance for really throwing myself out there for a fast time. In life, I would recommend sticking to the half marathon until hitting your twenties, because that is the way to be. I met my first boyfriend in college after running my first marathon, he was very tall and nice to carry my books to our British Writers class for me and bring me pizza. It is really funny, when I think of my first marathon after my parents dropped me off in my dorm, I think of him carrying me around everywhere for a week and watching movies. Very funny, and so worth being fast in long distance running. Just like Cinderella, and everything happened at once. Oh to become a marathon runner and feel in love all in one day, 26.2 miles and finding the true meaning of friendship is a really big deal! My point is, even though I started racing the marathon at 18, it would have been just as big starting at 25 and I think I would have felt better. I cannot imagine waiting another seven years, but it seems that all the things could have come later, nothing has changed. It is okay to not go further than a fast half marathon under twenty.