How did you decide to do your first full mary?

1st one was with my Ironman.

2nd one I did because my friend wanted me to visit her in Minnesota. I made a trade with her... "You do a marathon with me, I'll come visit". HA! She did and I did.

If you are going to decided, you also need to decide quickly because you need to start training.

No running for 10 weeks? You might want to look into a walk/run combo to ensure you stay injury free.

Good luck deciding.

I personally thought the mary training was fine and so was the race. Then again, I also had the IM training/race memories in my head.

I was stalking some hot chic, and she was running one

I'd been toying with the idea after doing a few halfs.
Knowing my 30th birthday was the next year, I checked race calendars and found one ON MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY within driving distance! It also allowed me to train during the tri off-season - perfect because it gave me something to focus on during the winter.

It was the best way to celebrate a milestone birthday! Complete with a road trip, a big group of friends, and a night on the town afterwards. Loved it.

 

After I ran my first HIM I got ideas about doing a full Ironman....Figured that I better see if I could make the full 26.2 before I made the comitment....have done 2 marathons now...still waiting on the Ironman.

I'm going to do my first one during a full IM. I hate running

I'm not sure what finally made me do a marathon.  I had run for several years and already done half marathons.  I just felt like it was my time.  I gotta say, training for a marathon can take up a lot of time and energy, so you need to be 100% into it, and not just do it b/c your friends are doing it.  But doing the training with your friends will really be a motivation boost and you will have someone to help keep you on track and do your long runs.  I am not sure if I am answering your question that well. 

Just make sure you have time in your schedule and family members who will support you and the time that it takes.  Also, your longest runs will probably fall in November and December, so right around the holidays.   So depending on your schedule, the training could be a great way to deal with holiday stress and overeating, or it could be another chore during an already hectic time of year.

BTW - my sister has run the disney marathon twice and loves it. 

I knew a bunch of you would say you did it because of an IM!  I'm still not sure what I will do.  My husband thinks I should go for it, but I don't think he realizes how much time it will take up!  I am a little worried about the longest runs being in December.  I go home to Mass every Christmas and I never run there (don't have any winter running clothes and don't do well int he freezing cold.)  Also, I LOVE Disney but didn't love the Dsney half mary - it was so much cement and there were hardly any spectators.  Maybe the full mary is different since you go through more of the parks.

I'll let you know what I decide!

After doing my first tri last year I immediately knew I wanted to do an Ironman.  I figured I better see what the 26.2 hullabaloo was all about first.

I saw an IM bumper sticker the other day that said:

Oh, a marathon...how cute.

I would pass on the Disney and do a smaller, local race for a first. I've never done Disney, but have heard complaints about the course and organization and also being so crowded you were stuck walking a lot. I believe the full marathon starts really early, like 5am, because they want most of the runners done before the park opens.

Had it on my "bucket list" for awhile and a friend had a plan to run one before her 45th birthday so it was a "Why not?"

Ran a couple halfs in the year previous.

Did Bayshore in 2007.

Am still an avowed "One and DONE" when it comes to the marathon.

Actually doing a marathon is the very reason I will never consider doing a full on IM.

It was my first year of law school and the year I was getting married.

Figured the year wasn't big enough so I decided to run a marathon

Seriously, I had always wanted to it and it was a "if not now, when?" kind of moment.

Signed up for Baltimore and went for it ! (it was supposed to be a one-and-done but I've done 3 total )

Interesting, DIsney full was my first mary last year, no problems with crowding (started in 2 seperate locations, each with their own corrals).. started @ 5:50am some for the parks but some for the heat as well (was still in the mid 70s when we finished on 1/11). It has a 7 hour cutoff so 1pm at the end roughly. Course was great and I haven't seen a better organized race yet (it's Disney folks, they're one of the best at dealing with large crowds). Only problem I had was those out for a Sunday morning stroll walking 5 people accross chit-chatting.. Other than that it was a great run, doing it again this year.

I was drunk

Not really sure.  I'd been running 35-40 mpw, 7 days a week, so I guess I just decided I was ready.  Signed up for LA Marathon pretty impulsively, actually.  Problem was I'd been running a lot of miles, but no runs longer than 10.5 miles.  Only had time for one long run of 14 miles three weeks before the race.

Man, was that a mistake.  Talk about suffering.  I've never made the mistake of undertraining for a marathon since that experience.  They definitely get easier (and faster) with experience and proper training.

To the OP:  January is probably doable--IF you haven't lost too much fitness.  Looking at your race logs, you have some solid times in the fairly recent past, so you obviously have a good running background.  If you get started right away and rebuild your mileage carefully (i.e., don't try to get it back all at once), I suspect you can do it.

I signed up for one in February because as it is I don't run enough and this is good motivation.

Pretty similar experience to tcovert.  I had been running 40-45 mile per week.  Three weeks beforehand I found out I was going on a business trip to Silicon Valley, decided to stay the weekend and run the Napa Valley marathon - no long runs under my belt.  That hurt a lot as I learned to appreciate the long run and glycogen depletion.  They really are a lot more fun if you train for them properly.  You have plenty of time if you want to do it.  Go for it...even though Napa hurt a lot, I am glad I did it.  I have done a number of them since and have enjoyed them each a lot.

haha I like these answers.

I thought, hey, I'm finally going to follow my dream and do an Ironman. Friends said 'swim 2.4 miles, 112mi bike, and THEN you have to run a MARATHON?' And I said, 'oh, right, a marathon. That will be interesting...'


Edited by cam224 2009-08-10 8:58 PM

The word 'decision' implies that some thought process was involved.  Not true for me.  I signed up on nothing but an impulse.  I'm glad I did.

I did my first marathon because there was a special deal on coaching. I had already done a half and this was the next logical step.

In looking at your race results it appears that you have the potential for a solid race IF YOU COMMIT TO THE NECESSARY TRAINING. It looks like you really didn't train that well for the halfs you've done since your pace was so much slower than your 10Ks. With a marathon it's not possible to "fake it". If you don't train it will be a long miserable day and may sour you on the distance. You have the ability, but don't do this unless you really want to.

My sister ran Boston this past year and with it being her first I decided to run the last 7 with her, hold her clothes and a cell to link up with our ride at the finish...the last 7 miles of Boston, regardless of whether I was a participant or not, definitely made the decision for me

(so I don't really have an answer to the OP's question, since I haven't yet found out if I was 'ready' for a full mary, but I'll find out in about 6 months!)

That's my story too. I want to do an Ironman sometime soon. And I decided to run a marathon first. I did the SF marathon a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't thrilled with my time, so I'm going back to do another one in Vegas in December. Then an Ironman next year.