I Trained For My First Marathon By Myself—Here’s What I Learned

Twelve months prior to my first marathon, I could not run a mile.

“Athlete” was a term that really had no relevance to my history, and fitness had been a vaguely-present (but little-understood) concept and part of my life. I had always been an avid hiker and was interested in all outdoor recreation, but had never undertaken such a concrete fitness goal and extensive physical challenge that involved any length of training.

I bring this up because, truly, if I can run a marathon—anyone can. Anyone who says “I could never take that on” or “I’m not a runner” … It simply isn’t true. I could not run a mile in January 2021 and by December 2021 I was cruising nonstop for nearly five hours on foot.

This is my experience as a first-time, self-trained marathoner, and honestly, it did change my life.