marathon in high school?

You could definitely go under 3. Probably well under 3 hours.

you're better off doing it right after your track season and wasting time recovering during the summer rather than your track season, you can't be doing quality track workouts while recovering from a marathon, so you'd be screwed for your big meets in may/june

What if I just "ran" it instead of raced it? Would it impact me that much?

Very bad idea!

I understand where you are coming from. I was in your shoes about 10 years ago. Similar times and mileage. I ran the marathon and never fully recovered. I battled injuries throughout college and never achieved to my potential. I went on to run 5 more marathons, but things were never the same. I still have nagging knee problems today that are attributed to the 'thon.

It sounds like fun, but I suggest you stick with the shorter stuff and leave the big distances until later in your career.

My high school cross coach ran a marathon before his senior cross season. he said it absolutely destroyed his whole season

I'd say plan on either running the marathon or running track. I don't think you'll be able to do both with any degree of success. Probably better to save the marathoning until you're done with team running. Running for a team requires you to stick to a pretty rigid schedule that doesn't generally include a marathon.

I ran one when I was 15, it was a mess!

We did one run of 13 miles and other than that, regular XC training. My buddy who was 16 ran 2:53 and there were other guys with a fraction of the training you are talking about under 3. It won't help your track though. Wait until you are older. YOu will prove nothing by running a 2:50 or so marathon.

Well the thing is there is no structure at all to our winter training, we dont even have to run. Everything is on our own. And since I want to do high mileage anyways, I thought I could stick in a marathon. I know it doesnt mean much to run one now, but I guess I would feel a huge sense of accomplishment if I did one. However, if will kill my chances to run well in track (I want to run under 4:30/9:40) then I would definitely rethink my plans. Any other thoughts or experiences?

you call that high mileage

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Obviously it isnt high for elite distance runners, but for a high school junior who has never averaged over 60 mpw for an extended time, I'd say 80 mpw training for 1600/3200 is relatively high.

This wouldn't be a bad idea if you were from East Africa.

I have seen results of The greatest distance runner ever (GEB) running a 2.40something marathon in his teens.