My First Marathon

Chris Field spent high school playing football, where running was something he had to do rather than something he chose. That changed in 2024, when partway through a weight loss journey a friend of his talked him into running a 5K, and his wife took one look at his face at the finish line and told him it wouldn’t be his last race. Spoiler alert: she was right, and within six months he’d run his first half marathon. After six of them, he decided to stop waiting to feel ready and signed up for the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach.

Training brought 4:30 a.m. midweek runs in the dark, a few lessons about easy pace that only made sense later, and a 22-mile long run that ended with the biggest sugary drink Starbucks would give him. Then a sinus infection hit during the final week of taper, but Chris still went into race day set on breaking five hours, right up until the sun came up over Virginia Beach and turned it into a day nothing like the cold winter miles he’d trained on. It ended up teaching him more about himself than any training run could, including just how stubborn he really is and why the way you get to the finish line doesn’t change the fact that you ran a marathon.

Follow along with Chris Field on TikTok: @fieldsy073

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I’m back with a Wednesday mini episode for the first time in a long time, and I’m catching up with you right after finishing my 20 miler for the Charlotte Marathon. I was supposed to be about eight months pregnant this November, but after a miscarriage in June and a second surgery in the middle of my training block, I spent most of this cycle with one foot in and one foot out, not trusting my body to do what it used to know how to do. In this episode I share how my husband’s “count to five” advice finally got me out of the car, why I’m using one mile run, one minute walk intervals on race day, and what happened when I stopped holding myself back halfway through. I also look back at the lesson each of my marathons has taught me and talk about what running has given me this year: a place to fall apart, rebuild, and feel proud of myself again. Now I’m officially in taper, and I’m so grateful you’ve stuck with me.

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 🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod
 📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast
 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources
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Morgan Berry spent her high school track days saying yes to whatever event her coach needed filled, but the marathon didn’t feel like hers until she watched her husband chase a Boston qualifier and find his running community in Knoxville. After finishing her local half, with three young kids at home and a husband who travels for work, she decided there was no point waiting for a perfect season. She signed up for her hometown marathon and told everyone she knew so she couldn’t back out.

Training meant Friday long runs so her husband could take Saturdays, treadmill miles when he was on the road, and a new running friendship with someone she went to high school with who messaged her on Strava. Not every long run went to plan, but by race day she had a carb load plan she trusted, a family ready to cheer at six spots along a hot, hilly course, and three kids she knew were watching.

Follow along with Morgan Berry: Morgan Berry on Strava
Shop Bound Running Co

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 🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod
 📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast
 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources
 Book a free 1:1 Coaching Call with me! - https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=37408473&appointmentType=85354440
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Jess O’Brien became a mom at 18, and for years movement took a back seat to raising her son. Running didn’t stick the first time she tried it, but joining a CrossFit gym had built up her endurance, so when a Revel marathon popped up on her favorite New Hampshire highway, she signed up and figured she’d learn the rest along the way.

And of course as anyone does training for their first marathon, she learned plenty that winter. Fueling, learning how to push through the hard, you name it, she was learning it along the way throughout training. But the bigger surprise was what those miles gave back. Running was the first thing she’d ever done only for herself, and she found she showed up better as a mom, wife, and friend because of it. 

Follow along with Jess: @Jessgets_fit33
Donate to Jess' London Fundraiser! https://secure.qgiv.com/event/20tclondonma/account/2403919/

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Casey’s running story starts with summer camping trips, where she raced anyone who would line up and tried her hardest to beat the boys. Thirty-plus marathons later, she’s a landscape architect and run coach who credits curiosity for just about everything.

We talk about how it took seven marathons to qualify for Boston, how canceled races during COVID nudged her toward her first 50K, and how ultras eventually led her to the CCC on the Mont Blanc trail. Casey also walks through her most recent block, training for a 100K and the Sydney Marathon at the same time with weeks topping 70 miles, and why she believes the marathon doesn’t owe you anything. With a 100-miler on the horizon and a sub-3 marathon still on her list, she shares what it looks like to keep showing up and play the long game.

Follow along with Casey Klein: @caseycline_

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 📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast
 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources
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When Sandy moved from Switzerland to Australia in 2020, she was quickly swept into the country's active, early-morning lifestyle, though running wasn't on her radar yet. That changed when the owner of her community gym dared her to try a 5K trial, and her competitive streak did the rest. A friend's nudge (and a little FOMO) got her signed up for the Cairns half marathon, which she ran alongside her run buddy Amy, catching the sunrise and realizing she was having a blast. By the celebration that evening, a full marathon was already on the table.

Sydney was the first city Sandy called home in Australia, so landing a spot through the ballot meant a lot. The road there included a Hyrox in Melbourne, time off for surgery, and shin splints that kept her from running for two months, which she got through with rehab, modified group classes, and a brand new road bike. Then a fresh foot pain showed up after her longest run, and she held off on booking flights until four weeks before race day.

Follow along with Sandy Engler: Sandy's Strava

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 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources
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Steve Carrier spent decades lifting heavy and hated cardio for a long time. When COVID closed the gyms, he started hiking and kayaking with his wife, and after she mentioned a 5K she wanted to do, he decided to give running a try. That race never happened, but Steve fell in love with running anyway. A few months in, he found the Central Mass Striders through a Facebook group, and their Sunday long runs slowly built him from a 3.5-mile loop to a half marathon, a year full of halves, and eventually the Bay State Marathon in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Training with that group brought one new longest run after another, along with a miserable 13 miles in the rain and a nerve-wracking first 20-miler. But race day was a different story, and the trouble started early. Steve talks through what kept him moving, how he felt when it was over, and why one rough day didn't take away from everything it took to get to the start line.

Follow along with Steve Carrier: @scarrier1999

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 📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast
 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources
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Aimee spent over a decade running half marathons, one a year, showing up and enjoying the distance without chasing a specific time. It started with a charity flyer that landed in her parents' mailbox when she was twenty one, tied to a disease for a cause she cares a lot about, and that was enough to get her to sign up for her first half marathon. She kept coming back to the distance year after year, watching a coworker take on marathon training and deciding early on that the full distance wasn't for her.

Then her husband asked why she wasn't running a full, and a PR in Charlotte gave her the confidence to finally sign up for one. She picked her fortieth birthday as the day and chose Eugene as the race, training through the winter months to get there. Everyone warned her about the wall waiting at mile twenty, and she spent the back half of the race bracing for it to hit (spoiler! It never did)

Follow along with Aimee Jones: @ayogamama

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 🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod
 📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast
 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources
 Book a free 1:1 Coaching Call with me! - https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=37408473&appointmentType=85354440
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Martin Dugard has been running since the early 1970s, but it all traces back to one moment at eleven years old, watching Frank Shorter win the 1972 Olympic marathon and being so moved he ran straight outside in his jeans for four miles. From there it was 5Ks, 10Ks, and a half marathon at White Rock in Dallas, until a marathon started to feel like the obvious next step. Martin went on to become a longtime running coach and a bestselling author, though for years his book career had nothing to do with running at all. That changed with his new book, The Long Run, which traces the sport's history from ancient Greece all the way to today's running boom.

His first marathon came during his senior year of high school, squeezed into the gap between cross country and track season with barely any of the mileage a marathon really calls for. What he carried into that race, and what it left him with by the finish line, ended up shaping the way he thinks about running and coaching for decades afterward. We get into all of it, along with what pulled him back to writing about the sport after building a career writing about everything else.

Follow along with Martin Dugard: @authormartindugard
Get The Long Run! https://www.martindugard.com/

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 👣 Personal IG/TikTok: @tay.says / @taysays
 🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod
 📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast
 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources
 Book a free 1:1 Coaching Call with me! - https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=37408473&appointmentType=85354440
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Jay spent years playing soccer and dabbled in other sports, but running itself was never her thing until she signed up for a local 5K in her off season as another way to move. That race quickly turned into a half marathon in DC, and crossing that finish line left her with one very unexpected thought: she could probably go further. So she set her sights on the New York City Marathon, and started to poke around charities that she could apply for and along the way found an organization that would allow her to run for her uncle. He had always been active, and Jay saw a shot at running in his honor when she applied for a charity bib with ALS United's Greater New York chapter.

Training through a brutal, humid summer tested her in ways she didn't expect, and she leaned on a running buddy, a rewards system built around her favorite snacks, and a mantra she repeated when the miles got long. But nothing quite prepared her for what race day itself would throw at her. Between the nerves, the heat, and a curveball she never saw coming, Jay had to find a completely different way to get to that finish line than the one she'd trained for.

Follow along with Jay Wood: @fit.w.jayy

Follow along with the show:
 👣 Personal IG/TikTok: @tay.says / @taysays
 🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod
 📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast
 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources
 Book a free 1:1 Coaching Call with me! - https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=37408473&appointmentType=85354440
Join the First Marathoner Community! - https://www.skool.com/myfirstmarathon/about