I am hoping to get a qualifier in four years and was wondering what some qualifiers have run their debut marathons in! I blew up after mile 22, but still managed 2:32. My coach told me a story of a guy from Cincinnati running 2:50 for his debut and ending up with like a 2:17. I was wondering if there are many others that have started where I am starting from and still made it.
I ran my debut marathon in 3:47 and qualified for the Trials (female) with 2:42:50. It took me eight years but I was training seriously for only about the last two.
amkelley wrote:
I ran my debut marathon in 3:47 and qualified for the Trials (female) with 2:42:50. It took me eight years but I was training seriously for only about the last two.
That's awesome!! Always like stories like this for motivation.
really good!
It obviously depends on how well trained you are for the first. And if you run the first race to your potential or blow up.
Someone who is a seasoned distance runner at shorter distances is probably going to improve a lot less than a hobby jogger who gets into marathoning after 6 months of running and has tons of room for improvement.
Coach says TJ Lentz debuted at like 2:50ish and qualified for the trials multiple times.
I have several friends who debuted around 2:30 or only slightly faster times and later qualified. But like an earlier poster said, it depends on MANY things. I personally (and several other friends) also debuted in that range but never ran substantively faster.
I ran my first half marathon three weeks earlier and went 1:10 without tapering. I ran a 10k 2 months prior in 31:14. Prior to that the only 10ks I ever did were at district XC in college. I was more of a 1500/steeple guy.