Dublin Marathon 2010

az2wp0sye65487

I know, I know..... It's WAY too early to be discussing this.

This will be my first marathon, and I was looking at the website earlier; I want to register now to get it out of the way nice and early. Then at least I'm 100% committed to doing it.

But on the website it mentioned that when registering you'll be asked which time category you're aiming to run in (i.e. - sub 3:30, sub 4:00 etc) - and I have no clue what to put... to date I've only run 2 short races, and I aim to run more (longer distances) over the coming months on the lead up to the marathon.

How did you decide what time you'd run for your first marathon? Or should I wait until I've some longer distance races under my belt before registering so I have a better understanding of my capabilities, race pace & possible finish time??

Thanks in advance!

TFBubendorfer

If you told us when you ran your "2 short races" and gave the distance and your times, then we might be able to figure out a realistic marathon performance.

az2wp0sye65487

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

If you told us when you ran your "2 short races" and gave the distance and your times, then we might be able to figure out a realistic marathon performance.

Apologies,

I did the Jingle Bells 5K in December. Don't have my exact time to hand, but finished in around 25 mins.

Did the Raheny 5 Mile there last week and finished in 41:06.

I've entered a 5K in Dublin City Centre in March - and also plan on doing the Great Ireland 10K Run in the Phoenix Park in April.

Also plan on doing some of the race series leading up to the DCM.

Krusty_Clown

It's not a massive deal anyway, as you can move pretty freely between the pens (and by move freely, I mean struggle through massive crowds for ages). I guess if you don't want to tie yourself down to a particular pen so early, then the only thing to do is wait. Running a half marathon will provide you with a pretty good guideline of where you might be, but if you're straddling between two pens, then the next 259 days will really determine where you should go.

Goldenlady

Its actually not the most important fact to be honest - you can position yourself on the day according to how fast you think you will be..... Good luck with it, its a well organised race! Havent done it myself but my boyfriend has done it 5 times..

TFBubendorfer

Drew Old Trainer wrote: »

I did the Jingle Bells 5K in December. Don't have my exact time to hand, but finished in around 25 mins.

Did the Raheny 5 Mile there last week and finished in 41:06.

Those times would point to a marathon just above 4 hours. That's of course assuming that you will be in similar shape by the time the marathon comes round, and that you will do the required training.

It's your choice, really. You can opt for the over-4 hours pen, but you won't be totally out of place in the sub-4 hours one either. As other have said, it's not that big a deal anyway.

BrokenMan

Go for the sub 4. If you feel you wont be able for it then on the day line up towards the back of the pen, you shouldn't get in the way of faster runners in the over 4 pen then.

TheLargerBowl

The middle pen is 3:30-4:15 anyway, so it sounds like that's probably the right choice for the OP.