A Run or a Race?

The fastest male marathoners in the world run 26.2 miles at faster than 5:00 per mile. The fastest female marathoners in the world run 26.2 miles at faster than 5:30 per mile. I think we can safely say that these people are racing the marathon. That was certainly how I went about it. For me, the challenge wasn’t just running 26.2 miles; it was seeing how fast I could run 26.2 miles. When I ran marathons at 5:00 per mile, I was running about a minute faster per mile than my usual training pace. Most people, however, are running the marathon just to conquer the distance. I’m all in favor of that approach. Remember the basic principle from Chapter 20: The first step to participating in any race is being able to cover the distance. The longer the race, the more that negotiating the distance becomes a limiting factor in performance. Almost anyone can run one mile faster than their regular training pace. Almost no one can run 50 miles faster than their regular training pace.
For your first marathon, your goal should be to finish. Trust me, that’s more than enough challenge for one race. If you define a race as trying to run the best that you can for a set distance on a given day, then just finishing your first marathon is a race. After you’ve done one or two marathons, then you can try to reduce your time.