Choosing A Marathon

So you are thinking about entering a marathon. How do you choose there right one for you? A good place to begin is on the internet at a website called:
http://www.marathonguide.com
On their homepage there is a tab called: calendars. When you click on this tab, make the choice: US/Canada. You will get a list of future and past marathons (date, name, city, state) which you may scroll through and find information about. When you click on any given marathon, you will receive information that includes: Contact Information, Runners Comments, Past Results. There will also be a link to the races website.

As you analyze the information, there are several things that you might want to consider:
1. What is the date of the marathon and how does it fit into when you would like to attempt your marathon? Will you have the proper amount to time to train for the event?
2. How big of a marathon is it? Do you want to be part of a huge event and partake in the festive atmosphere or do you want to be part of a small event and concentrate mainly on your finish time?
3. How much travel will be involved? Is it practical to drive to the event or can you afford to fly to the event? Is available lodging and the airport, if needed, close enough to the place the race is being held?
4. Can you fit the marathon into your work schedule? A Sunday marathon often requires that you travel to the site on Friday, pick up the race materials on Saturday, do the race on Sunday, and return home on Sunday evening or Monday.
5. Can you afford the cost involved? Unless the marathon is local to where you live, you will usually have 1-3 days of lodging, gas and food costs, and possibly airline tickets and a rental car. Of course there will always be an entry fee.
6. What will the course be like? Will it be flat or hilly? Will it be rural or urban? The website will often contain a map, description, and elevation profile for the course.
7. What is the normal weather for the date of the marathon in its location? Of course weather is very changeable and you should be prepared to deal with much different weather than normal—whether it be colder or hotter, rainier (snowier) or drier, or windier.
8. What do you get for your entry fee? The most common inclusions are: your entry for the race, a long or short sleeve t-shirt, a computer chip for use during the race, a finisher’s medal, and food and beverage at the finish line. Sometimes the entry also includes a pre-race meal or a post race party as well as other incentives to get you to enter.
9. What will the associated exposition be like? The bigger events will have many vendors selling running related goods and souvenirs related to this marathon, telling about other races in other places, and supplying samples of products from sponsoring organizations. There will likely be celebrity speakers who are former or current Olympic runners and champions or famous writers for major running magazines such as Runner’s World. The smaller races may only have a packet pick-up.
10. Are there any other races associated with the marathon that traveling companions might be interested in doing if they do not intend to participate in the marathon. Many marathons run half marathons and/or 5k races concurrently with or during the marathon.
11. What are the entry deadlines? Early entries often cost less than later entries. Many races have size limitations that when reached closes entries. Others are so popular that they have lottery systems for entry. Even huge events sometimes are closed quickly. The Marine Corps Marathon had a size limitation of 30,000 and took less than 2 days to fill.
12. How close are the starting line and the finish line to each other and how much parking is available near them? If the marathon is a point to point event, does the event provide the necessary transportation or does the individual have to furnish it?
13. How much before the start do you have to report to the staging area? In many of the bigger marathons you are expected to be at the staging area 1 to 2 hours before the start of the event.
14. In previous years were there an adequate number of restroom facilities in the starting area as well as along the course and were there adequate numbers of water and electrolyte drink stations along the course with enough volunteers to handle the size of the field?

Another thing you may want to do is to talk to other runners to see if they have already done the marathon in a previous year and get their first hand impressions about the race. The more you know about any particular marathon, the easier it is for you to decide if it is the right marathon for you. Excellent preparation and training make a marathon experience much more enjoyable.