My Marathon Just Got Cancelled - What Now?

I'd also be interested in any inside information anyone might have as to marathons that are likely to be held, even as late as November or December.

On the other hand, the fact that a young person has a greater chance of dying in a car wreck than dying of Wuhan may lead to a ban on driving to marathons.

(Whoops, messed up my previous reply)

Yeah, not just Marathons but any distance 5k - Marathon. Would be really nice to get the chance to race this year, even if it's just once.

Time trial. Choose an out and back or loop course of marathon length, figure out hydration/nutritions logistics, and go for it. Depending on how many marathons you've run, every one of them is not only different, but a great learning tool about what works for you at that distance.

Your race is cancelled, which means logistics have to be managed, but otherwise it really only means you won't be dealing with hundreds of other runners, most of whom would have been behind you from the start anyway.

Do your own.

Do your own time trial. Invite some of your old teammates to pace you through either sections or the entire thing. Pick a flat course you are familiar with. Pick an ideal time of day and year with good conditions. Now you are not held to anyone else's standards but your own.

A marathon time trial sounds awful. CIM and Honolulu are still on this year, but I wouldn't be surprised if they cancel.

joedirt wrote:

Do your own time trial. Invite some of your old teammates to pace you through either sections or the entire thing. Pick a flat course you are familiar with. Pick an ideal time of day and year with good conditions. Now you are not held to anyone else's standards but your own.

Thanks for the advice, but I haven't trained with anyone for about 4 years. I spent the past 3 years just keeping myself fit with just a few easy runs in the morning, and only started training seriously again the past year or so. I don't really have anyone I can 'invite'. Anyone I do know nowadays who runs is WAY too slow, as in they'd struggle to last 800m at my Marathon pace and therefore wouldn't be of any help. Any suggestions of what I could do?

Disappointed Runner wrote:

Yeah, not just Marathons but any distance 5k - Marathon. Would be really nice to get the chance to race this year, even if it's just once.

Windermere ? I'm hoping that it's small enough to find a way to go ahead.

Do not time trial your first marathon! like you said do a half instead, you want to keep your first marathon for race experience, it will be way more fun :)

I'm pretty sure OP is not in the US. Since he was signed up for Manchester, which is in Britain.

How did your 5 x 18mile workout go?

Keep training, and on the scheduled marathon day do a marathon on the track. 100+ laps of fun. Flat, fast course.

OP is British? wrote:

I'm pretty sure OP is not in the US. Since he was signed up for Manchester, which is in Britain.

There's also a Windermere in the UK, not too far from Manchester. The marathon isn't quite as flat though.

Kipchogefan wrote:

Do not time trial your first marathon! like you said do a half instead, you want to keep your first marathon for race experience, it will be way more fun :)

+1 to the HM time trial. It's much more manageable than a marathon TT, especially if you don't have a lot of race experience.

Enigma have some small events going on in Milton Keynes,Reykjavik looks good for August,Magdeburg is easy to get to for October,New Forest looks like it's going ahead,just need to look for smaller races.

Birkoboy wrote:

...need to look for smaller races.

This seems to obvious. What is the problem again?

I'm in exactly the same boat as you. Was scheduled to run Chicago and am in Daniels week 6, phase 2 of my preparation. Was all set to move from VO2 and LT workouts to LT and MPs. I think what I'm going to do depends upon what marathon I get to run this fall. If Baltimore, Detroit, or Toronto do not get canceled, I will not change my training at all since they are all only one week after Chicago was planned. If I'm forced to do Indianapolis or Savannah, which are about a month after Chicago, I will adjust my schedule by adding a couple weeks of phase I training with a little LT or MP mixed in.

I'm in a similar situation.

Just trying to stay fit and enjoy my running (I don't really have much else going on) without doing anything too specific. I might try a few shorter distance time trials.

I wont be signing up for races in the near future until I am certain they will go ahead, which should give me a decent amount of time to get in a block of marathon training before an eventual race day.

I did my own solo marathon in April, was hoping to do a BQ for 2021. It definitely would have been a BQ, except for the minor fact that it wasn't a certified race. I've always trained solo, so running the distance was no big deal. It gave me a sense of personal accomplishment if nothing else. Good luck!