No novelty for good dolphin.

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I've run 26 miles both ways and there is something to be said for the communal experience of an official marathon as opposed to the normal solitude one finds on a morning run. It's like the difference between watching a movie in a crowded theater or at home by yourself on a big screen.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

I'm not saying you should do laps in a park district, but there are plenty of long trails all throughout the suburbs, and you can even run along much of the lakefront in Chicago.

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Clearly not the same as running with 1.7 million cheering, the signs, the music, aid stations, the communal experience of 30K+ doing the same thing. It's a very unique time. I've never ever been a runner, but I had an absolute blast and thinking about doing it again next year

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Team Cutler.

I have zero desire to ever run a marathon. 3-5 miles is plenty for me when I do get in the mood to run. But I think it is really cool for those people who do have that desire. I would imagine it is a pretty amazing experience with that many people around. And who cares if they paid money to do it? People pay money to join a health club and most of the time they still sit on their ass and do not go.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I agree that the communal experience is what makes races different. When I run the Great Western Trail by me, I might see 4 people on a 10-12 mile run. You are seeing the same terrain the whole time (crushed limestone, some trees, maybe a random flower or two). In any race (even the small ones), you will get to slap high fives to many kids, laugh at a few signs, have a moment or two along the way where you can give someone a kick in the ass when they look like they are starting to crumble.

I imagine the copious amounts of blow that one would need to consume in order to run for 4 hours really makes the whole "running with unicorns" experience memorable.

I ran two of the Rock 'n Roll half marathons last year. Those are a blast. Live music at every mile marker. I plan on getting back on the running horse next year for some more halfs (halves?). Have zero interest in running a full marathon. Banging out 13.1 and barely being sore the next day is my kind of race.

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-- source

In all seriousness, what training programs are you people using? I can't fathom running more than a mile or two at once. My lungs want to explode.

I never really considered what I do "training". I just started running a mile and then stretched it out longer and longer until I was going about six every day. There wasn't a lot of thought behind it. I normally would never go more than ten miles at once. When I ran the marathon, I wanted to be sure I could do it, so I ran one on my own a couple weeks before.

From a strictly physical and health perspective, I don't think running 26 mile at once is beneficial. I did it once so I could say I had. I think redskingreg has the right idea with the shorter races.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

When I started running Ugie, I did the Couch to 5K. It incorporates run/walks to get you started. From there, I followed Hal Higdon's programs for 10K, later half marathon and finally marathon to achieve my goals.

My buddy sent me one where I started running 1 mile or so, four days a week, starting four months away from my goal date (first half marathon). Each run slowly increased over that span (week 1 - four 1-mile runs, week 2 - four 1.5-mile runs, etc.), until around month three when one run a week was 7 miles (along with three shorter ones), then 8 the next, and so on until the longest run of 11. Very simplified. I stopped using that program after about a month, and just started running Busse (7.7 miles) three days a week. Last year was the first mile I had run in about 12 years, so if you're dedicated, I'm sure you can do it too.

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-- source

Also- and I know this may be hard to believe starting out- if you can run one mile in eight minutes, you can train to run a bunch of eight minute miles in a row.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

I couldn't even break 10 minutes on my first few attempts at a mile. I think my best half time was 7:57 per mile.

_________________
-- source

Yeah, I couldn't even begin to tell you how long it took me to go a mile when I first started. It wasn't too fast, I know that much.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

Um.. yeah. I think my mile average is about 10:45 right now.

Everybody in such a rush, yo.

Nothing wrong with that. My average mile for Chicago was low-ish 10's. It was a good pace for me that let me accomplish my goal and do it without any injury.

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Team Cutler.

My first 5K was in the 11's. My marathon was at 13.....my fastest 5K ever was just under 9 min miles,.

It's not how fast you go....just fucking go.

It's more than that. The highs are higher and the lows are lower when you are running a marathon as opposed to slogging through a training run. The people watching is terrific. The crowds and bands energize you. The finishes can be incredible. At Chicago you turn from NB Michigan on to EB Roosevelt which is an uphill that, at that point in the race, can feel like Mt. Everest. Then it is a short downhill NB on Columbus to the finish. All the while you have a huge crowd cheering you. In other places (Champaign, New Orleans) you finish inside the stadium, running through the tunnel out on to the field. Perhaps you catch a glimpse of yourself on the jumbotron. Awesome!!

As for training, once you get up to running 6 miles at once and 20 miles per week then following this will get you to the starting line and through your first marathon: http://extabit.com/file/27t7wzenrd3a9

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."