You already made up your mind, so you better get your butt outside or on the treadmill. Run 3 days a week. You'll be fine.

Dude, youth is only going to get you so far-- about a 1/2M and change. You gotta respect the distance. Once you get to 18 miles, it's a whole different world. Google bonk + running.

Bump up your training as much as you can without risking injury. get a plan and read some Hal Higdon. Going into a marathon you should be doing at least 40-50 mile weeks 10-12 weeks out. I prefer 60-70, with at least 2 long 20 mile runs before race day.

At any rate, I've never been one to step on anybody's dream, just MHO. Do what you gotta do, but be safe.

Sometimes if you don't take risks you miss out on a lot of life's many wonders.

Let us know how it goes. Good luck

Sorry, didn't mean scare anyone off or to suggest SlowE should be doing 60-70 mile weeks... just what I do to get me there.

I'm pullin' for him, cautiousily of course.

Check the link.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244-255-8257-0,00.html

get the girl to run it with you..then it doesn't matter how much training you do!!

I am a 35-45 mile a week trainer when it comes to marathons.

As stated before your youth and general fitness may get you thru the 26.2 but not easily.

Each mile after 13 will become exponentially harder and you will be feeling it after 18, and feelings days after as you recover.

You have the time so I would put in the work. :D

I know a couple of people who did the minimum possible in training and completed a marathon. None of them has run one since and they have no plans to run one in the future. If you are doing it for the experience that is great. Follow a sound training plan and maximize your experience.

See? See what I'm talking about..People want the thrill but don't want to put in the work! They treat the marathon like it's a Saturday trip to the pub. No respect and no since of history...The same thing that trashed rock climbing.
Sure..go ahead and do it...don't train for it properly and you'll finish...And some years from now, you'll be one of those guys who says "Oh, I did a marathon once and it almost killed me." instead of "I do marathons now and again and I love 'em! They really are not too bad."
Beads and TDB are sooo right.
BTW TDB...did ya see your Birthday greeting!

just like how snobbery trashed road biking? ;)
this post has provided the most inspiration on the page and i'm not being sarcastic at all... not that i'm not grateful for those who provided words of encouragement and tips.

You might be even closer to the girl if you actually train with her too. Something tells me that most likely she's not too lazy to put off training and hack through it. There is a chance you'll make it through okay (and make a lot of people irritated that they worked so hard), but it'll be more fun if you could actually walk and breathe enough afterwards to go get a beer with her. Look at Higdon's novice schedule and jump in. halhigdon.com

Well, I did my first - the myrtle beach marathon on saturday.

short story: official times aren't posted yet, but i finished 3:48 or so (chip time) and 3:50:30 by the gun. I beat my goal and am happy and uninjured, though pretty sore. my first half was 1:50:30, so I didn't slow much for the second part. my companion finished in about 4 hours flat. it was her first, too.
here's post-race pic of me and the gal who inspired/convinced me to do it.

here are some highlights from my experience:

Training:

i was in decent shape to start out and an occasional runner/trainer. i started "training" the first week in january. i did a few shorter runs (total) and swam about 2 times a week, with a total of 3 "long runs" from 13 to 16 miles. i'll total up my abysmal mileages sometime and post what an idiot i am.

the 16 miler is a story in itself because I ran 6 miles to paris mountain on an empty stomach at night, forgot about my empty stomach and ran 6 more miles over the mountain (beautiful view at night- totally worth it), headed around the mountain to get back home, made it about 3 miles homeward, bonked, begged a fountain drink from a gas station, and hitchhiked the remaining 7 miles home.

race conditions:
start at 6:30am. 25 degrees F when we started, warming up to maybe 40-45 by the time i finished. I wore socks on my hands, which worked out wonderfully even though i looked like a fool. they were warm, easy to take on and off for water stations and when i got hot, and i could have thrown them away along the run if i tired of them. i wore shorts with a speedo "jammer" type swimsuit instead of normal undies because i never get chaffing that way - that's worked well for me.

Race:
some guy smiling for the camera tripped over a cone at mile 2 and wiped out. I got passed by a 60 year old man who was 6 inches shorter than I am, who runs ultras. I also got passed by a few 40-something overweight guys, which humbled the hell out of me.

at mile 13, we passed by the start/finish so the half marathoners could end. that was demoralizing. at mile 16, i realized I had run the farthest I ever had... and i still had 10 miles left. it was HAAAAARRRRDDD to keep running around mile 20, and i was just going mile to mile after that. i walked all the water stations along the whole course so i could get the water in me instead of on me.

i ate a bagel with peanut butter 1 hour before the race and a total of 4 gels along the way. water/powerade stations were every 2 miles, and i hit each one except the first, and usually got powerade.

post-race:
i'm pretty sore now, especially the calves, but also wierd stuff like my shoulders as if i was running tense. i didn't lose any toenails, get any blisters, start hallucinating, or bonk/hit the wall during my first marathon, so i guess i lucked out.

Congrats! I'd consider that a very successful first marathon!

great job! now get busy recovering for the tri season!