His: A New Challenge for 2015

I have been interested in running a full marathon for over a year now but have never committed to training or signing up for a race. I had considered running in the Rock and Roll Marathon in Washington DC next year but it would end up costing a lot once you factor in race fees, travel and hotel. I was hoping I would find a course closer to home that I would enjoy.

Last week I received an email advertising a new marathon in a nearby city that sounded really interesting called the One City Marathon. After taking a look at the course map I decided this was the race that I was looking for. It has reasonable entry fees and is almost 7 months out so it gives me plenty of time to train. I also really like that the course is not a circuit but starts and finishes at the other end of the city. 

My next step was to choose a training plan that would help me get me to the finish line. I chose the Hal Higdon Novice Supreme program as it has everything I wanted in a training plan. I liked that it had a solid plan for each day but didn't get too detailed like some others did. Some plans wanted me to run some parts of my miles at different speeds among other things. That seemed too much for me and I prefer the simplicity of sticking to set distances I need to run each day. If my goal for the marathon was looking to beat a certain time I feel that the more detailed plans would be better but for this event I am simply looking to cross the finish line and posting a time to beat for next time so this plan seems best for me.

I am looking forward to this new challenge and documenting my journey as I train to run 26.2 miles in one go. I am sure there will some challenges but it will all be worth it when I cross the finish line. 

Have you ever run a long distance race or have plans to do so some day? What tips and tricks could you recommend for a newbie, just getting started.