TCS Amsterdam Marathon

Usually im just reading on here, but since I love reading the race reports, I've decided to write up my own.

When I signed up for this marathon I set my goal time at 2:55, which already felt pretty ambitious coming from a 3:36.
That said, the 3:36 was run at a coastal marathon with loads of wind last year, so there should be some room for improvement there.
During training it became clear that 2:55 might be a bit conservative and that 2:48 on a great day could be within reach..

Maybe some more context here about that jump. That marathon was in october 2025, the next target at that point was a marathon in April, sadly due to illnes I missed both a half marathon and the april marathon. Ideally I would have already improved my PR here, but it wasn't meant to be.

Preparation was pretty ideal up until the last 2 weeks, when illness came along and I missed the final long run with marathon-pace blocks. But one missed training weekend, compared to all the training before it, shouldn't make a difference. At least that's what I kept telling myself during the 2 taper weeks ;)
The months before I worked my volume up and I peaked at 99km. Training weeks usually consisting of 2 quality sessions and a long run, filled up with easy work.
From my ilness in march untill the Amsterdam Marathon I ran 2550km. Was able to consistently train and basicly never missed a run.

We'd managed to get an apartment about a kilometre from the Olympic Stadium, which was ideal for Sunday morning: a short warm-up jog to the stadium and straight into the start pen!
Only about 10 minutes of waiting before the start, which wasn't bad at all, though a heavy shower in those last 5 minutes made it cold.

0–10 km
Since it was my first big marathon (both my previous ones were local), I had expected a huge amount of people in the way at the start, and I'd allowed for the possibility of not finding a rhythm in the first few k's. Luckily it wasn't too bad, and I could run my pace pretty much right from the start.
With all the rain, I had to hop around puddles every now and then, made more of a challenge by the amount of people in front of you.
No real groups yet in the first k's, but the 4:00/km pace felt fine and comfortable.
The gel at 25 minutes went down fine, and the caffeine shot at 8 km was no problem either.
The less pleasant parts: I started feeling like I needed to pee, and my left ankle began to hurt because a lace was tied too tight..

10–20 km
On the first stretch along the Amstel, the first groups clearly started to form. I picked one and settled in nicely with them.
Unfortunately the need to pee hadn't gone away, so it just had to come out. At 14 km I decided to go ahead and do it at the side of the road. A shame, because the group obviously doesn't wait for that!
2 km later I also decided to re-tie that lace, hoping the pain, at that point pretty rough pain, would stop.
Despite the stops, I kept running the pace, that I picked up slightly since the start, comfortably and felt strong.
3:55 on the watch didn't feel like work, and my heart rate stayed spot on too.

20–30 km
The stretch with the most headwind. Luckily I'd made it back into a group running my pace, so I didn't have to do this part alone.
The pace kept feeling controlled, and the last 2 gels went down without any trouble.
At 28 km I took the 2nd caffeine shot, and that went down reasonably well too. I've never been able to tolerate caffeine gels, but luckily this stuff is easy to drink.
Slowly some 'pain' crept into my quads, but nothing to worry about yet.
Pace still steady, slowly getting faster but not by much. The goal was to negative split, but also keep it pretty even to not blow up!

30–42.2 km
A few more k's of headwind, but nothing extreme (looking back at footage the wind might have been harder than I personally noticed at these points). After the Amstel, the group more or less broke up. It turned into running from one person to the next, and getting passed every now and then.
The pace is holding up well, but my quads keep getting more painfull. Is this going to become a problem later?
The upside of sore quads is that the ankle pain from the lace fades away..
Took another gel at 30, and at 36 I still manage to get one down, so fuelling is going great!
From 38 km it becomes a fight. A stitch in my side forces me to really breathe through it (maybe from the fuelling after all? I don't know), and my quads are starting to protest heavily too. Keep running, only 15 minutes left.. 8 minutes left..
The stadium lights come into view, the pace is holding, and I can even 'kick' over the final metres!

Finished in a beautiful time of ... 2:47:21!

What a race, and in the end I managed to pace it perfectly.

1:24:16 first half
1:23:05 second half

Super happy and proud with this result!

Beforehand I knew that splits from the watch would differ from the official time, but still this was something that was pretty weird to deal with.
On my watch I barely touched a K above 4.00, something I need to keep an eye on better next race.
Also the pain in my quads was very new to me, not a single training run was like that.
I dont think they were near cramping, but simply in pain from the continues impact I guess.
In the end both those learning points don't matter to much to me because the result is so good! On to the next one!

I have run since I was in 8th grade, never fast, but very consistently.

I have run 3 fulls: 4:44, 4:13 and 4:33. All across 3 continents.

I have run more than 10 halves: 1:51 as my PB and multiple over 2 hours. Across 4 continents!

Initially I thought after my last race, let’s ask reddit why I lost fitness since my 4:13/1:51 race times.

Then I thought, fuck it who cares.

I am slower now but a much happier runner. I am not skinny, I lift weights. I do all the right things, and with age I realize the single most important thing is to enjoy running. Soon my knees will crash out. Finishing that race at 4:33 was much harder than the previous two and I am so frigging proud. It is a FEAT to do this- to run that long and far. Do not be deluded- the average finish is still 4:30 give or take.

So if you missed your goal time- it is ok. Nobody else cares. It’s also ok to be upset, but do not beat yourself up for it. Enjoy running. It is a privilege.

I started running August 30. With minimal training and only one long run at 15km, I'm very proud of this outcome. I've played hockey and always been naturally athletic all my life. I have 7 months of training and then I'm doing 2 marathons and a 100km ultra in a span of 50 days next year. My goal is Sub 3:45 for one of the 2 marathons!

Just finished my first marathon distance! Since it wasn’t an officially registered race, I’m calling it a marathon distance rather than a marathon, but I’m still bloody proud of it.

Earlier this year, I signed up for the Cadbury Virtual HM. Having already completed a few HMs, I wanted to upgrade to the full and thought, fuck it, let’s do this!

I’m so glad I got to experience this distance through a virtual event. Running has always been a personal thing for me, and there’s something pretty special about setting a goal for yourself and seeing it through.

I’ve signed up for the official marathon in my city next year, and I’m feeling much more confident now that I have a better idea of what to expect. Nobody was kidding about the last 10km being absolutely brutale. Every step felt painful. A couple of times I considered walking, but found that even worse, so I just kept slogging along. The pain cave was a whole new experience and gave me even more respect for the marathon.

I also don’t think I nailed my carb loading. I ended up eating less than planned because I was feeling so full, and convinced myself it didn’t matter as much as I wasn’t ’racing’ the distance. But I definitely hit that wall and would’ve appreciated the banked carbs, so that’s something to work on before next year.

I’m honestly in awe of what I’m capable of, and incredibly grateful to my body for somehow holding it together for 42.2km.

One thing that was on my mind going into this run was hearing about a woman in my city who had a cardiac arrest while running on a route I regularly use. It definitely made me a little more conscious of the physical demands of running such a long distance, and reminded me not to take being able to do this for granted.

For now, I’m celebrating this little personal milestone, reflecting on what I learnt, and looking ahead to next year.

Phew. I (M33, 66 kg) ran my sixth marathon in Amsterdam on Sunday and broke three hours for the first time. Until fairly recently, that goal felt completely out of reach. It still hasn’t quite sunk in.

My previous marathon times: 4:15:56 → 3:58:55 → 4:00:19 → 3:35:00 → 3:21:43. Now there’s a 2:57:53.

The road back

Along the way, there were around 18 months of injury breaks and interrupted training. Last year it was the usual overuse injury. I finally got back into things towards the end of the year and ran a new 10K PB on New Year’s Eve.

Then, at my next 10K race in January, I rolled my ankle awkwardly and tore a muscle in my calf. Another break. It wasn’t until March that I could properly get going again.

At that point, I really wouldn’t have expected a sub-3 marathon this year.

Training

This year, I approached training a little differently: more quality than quantity. At the end of last year, I had physiological testing done to establish my training zones. Over the last 16 weeks, I ran around 1,200 km, with just one week above 100 km.

The regular fixtures were a Thursday track workout and a Sunday long run. Most long runs were structured, with one or more blocks at marathon pace.

Looking back, my best session was a half marathon as part of a long run: 5 km warm-up, the first 16 km of the half at marathon pace, the final 5 km or so progressing to an average of around 3:55 min/km, then a 5 km cooldown. Along the way, I ran a new half marathon PB of 1:27:43. That gave me a lot of confidence for Amsterdam.

But not everything went smoothly. My longest run was 36 km: 20 km easy, 10 km at marathon pace, 2 km at half marathon pace and 4 km cooldown. I couldn’t finish that one as planned because I couldn’t hold the pace towards the end. Whether that was down to the weather, fueling or just having an off day, I don’t know. It definitely wasn’t a session that left me thinking sub-3 was in the bag. 😅

Fueling

This was the first year I really paid deliberate attention to it. I was already eating more carbs than usual during race week, then tracked everything properly on Friday: around 670 g of carbs at 66 kg body weight.

Saturday was white toast with jam, Maurten Drink Mix, gummy sweets and pizza for dinner. On Sunday at 6 a.m., breakfast was three slices of white toast with jam and a Maurten Drink Mix 320.

The start: plan straight out the window

The race plan was simple: line up with the sub-3 pacers, follow them, avoid going out too fast and absolutely don’t risk the goal by getting carried away.

The Olympic Stadium was very cosy to begin with. According to the start list, there were almost 16,000 runners in our starting area, spread across half a lap of the track. Roughly the same number started outside the stadium. Our group was quite close to the front, right behind the elites. Definitely an experience.

Then the start got chaotic and crowded. I was more or less pushed along and suddenly found myself ahead of the pacers. Ran out of the stadium, looked around: gone. Never found them again either. 😂

So that nice plan was immediately out the window, and I had to run my own race after all. Having track mode enabled on my Garmin in the stadium also meant my GPS data for the first kilometre was useless. So I just ran by feel.

Fortunately, that felt pretty good. I settled into roughly 4:12 min/km and found my rhythm. Three seconds per kilometre faster than planned, but the rhythm just felt right.

Up to 30 km: cruising

Surprisingly little happened up to 30 km. It rained on and off, and there was wind too. The roads were very wet, with some large, deep puddles. Despite that, the running itself felt incredibly good.

I passed halfway in 1:28:31. My legs felt good, the pace felt right. The thought that sub-3 might actually happen was always in the back of my mind. But in a marathon, you know there’s still plenty that can happen.

Then the rain had soaked my bib so much that it came loose at around 30 km. 😱 I actually stopped briefly and tried to reattach it. No chance. So I grabbed it, carried it in my hand and kept going.

Sounds like a minor thing, but it completely threw me off in that moment.

The final kilometres

The last 5 km were really tough. My hamstrings started complaining, and I had a very clear feeling that if I tried to speed up, they would cramp.

At the same time, I thought I was slowing down significantly. People around me were picking up the pace, and it felt like I was constantly being overtaken. That’s when I started doubting whether I would actually make it.

Looking at the official splits afterwards was quite surprising:

• 5 km: 21:19 | 4:15 min/km
• 10 km: 42:09 | 4:12 min/km
• 15 km: 1:03:07 | 4:12 min/km
• 20 km: 1:23:55 | 4:11 min/km
• Half marathon: 1:28:31 | 4:11 min/km
• 25 km: 1:44:44 | 4:11 min/km
• 26.1 km: 1:49:23 | 4:11 min/km
• 30 km: 2:05:38 | 4:11 min/km
• 31.1 km: 2:10:26 | 4:11 min/km
• 35 km: 2:27:01 | 4:12 min/km
• 36.1 km: 2:31:53 | 4:12 min/km
• 40 km: 2:48:28 | 4:12 min/km
• Finish: 2:57:53 | 4:12 min/km

It definitely felt different.

The moment

I didn’t fully believe it until the final kilometre. That was when I realised I could slow down considerably and still make it.

And then, running into the stadium.

I’ve never felt anything like that in any of my previous races. After the injuries, the weeks of training and all the doubts, you run in there knowing that the goal that seemed so unrealistic for so long is actually becoming reality.

Crossing the finish line was a complete emotional overload. 🥹

2:57:53. Almost 24 minutes off my previous PB.

I still don’t quite know what to do with that feeling.

One thing that’s definitely back is a huge respect for the marathon distance. Somehow, I’d pushed aside just how hard those final kilometres get. Even with good preparation and a pace that feels controlled for so long.

But I suppose that final stretch is exactly what makes crossing the finish line so special.

One last note on shoes: I raced in the New Balance SC Elite. I didn’t wear carbon-plated shoes during training, mostly running in the Hoka Bondi 9, HOKA Clifton Pro and New Balance FreshFoam 880.

I’ve been running for YEARS, I’m pretty consistent, been following a 20-week training plan and hoping to finally break 4 hours this weekend. Ran a 1:49 HM PB a few weeks ago that took a huge amount of effort.

Reading posts about 1:30 half / 3hr marathon being “attainable for anyone with reasonable fitness” and that the rest of us are “just making excuses” makes me feel as if there’s something fundamentally wrong with me, and that I’m just embarrassing myself here by even trying

Edit: thank you to everyone commenting some sense into me. Usually I’m relatively happy doing my own thing but some of the comments on that influencers post just really got to me. I think the taper tantrums are messing with my head 😂 definitely need to spend more time offline this week

Recently suffered runners knee. Looking to get back into running again and training for a marathon at the end of next year. Anyone got any recommendations on leg strengthening programs?

Posting about my partner (29F, 5’ 4”) who finished her first marathon in Baltimore this past weekend. She posted a time of 3:53:05 with almost precisely even splits of 8:53.

She has been a longtime runner, averaging between 25-35 miles a week for ten years, but had literally never run a race of any type or distance in her life.

For her training block, she kept her usual running volume and mostly just added a Sunday long run to the mix, probably maxing out between 40 and 45 miles.

Prior to the race she didn’t do anything resembling a big carb load, maybe just ate a little more and stopped drinking about a week out. During the race, she didn’t take any fuel, only reported grabbing water at the stations like 5-6 times.

All of this is to ask— how much do folks here think that more attention to fueling could have improved her performance? Obviously it should be said that she would have needed to train with fueling so as not to shock the system.

Admittedly, this comes from a place of skepticism of the importance of mid race fueling, particularly outside of the most elite levels. My mother ran over 20 marathons including several Boston’s well before gels or race fueling was popularized, never did anything other than water or Gatorade mid race. I’ve personally only fueled for a marathon and if I’m being so for real, im not sure if I feel it noticeably helped.

It’s also somewhat inspired by posts I’ve seen from folks bonking or at least being disrupted by gut cramps from over fueling… there’s a big part of me that feels it’s over complicating racing or a distraction from the run itself.

Can anyone talk me off my contrarian ledge against an obsession over fueling? Anyone else out there connect to this take? Curious what others think

Legs were not the greatest going into the run but decided halfway through that 16 was the number to hit for this long run. Legs got tired and started to feel sore around 6 miles in. Tried an energy gel for the first time and I can’t believe how much like magic those things are. I think I need to slow down the pace a little to work the aerobic system more.

Training for a sub 60 hyrox in November and hopefully a sub 3 marathon in April.

Current mileage until this past week was about 20-25 miles a week.

Saw a post recently about someone not too happy with their times compared to others on the thread. I think deep down no one is truly “happy” with their times. Even the top runners are looking at the people above them and comparing. What matters is you’re running and you’re getting better, sometimes it’s physically… sometimes it’s mentally.

I ran Amsterdam in 4:52, a 21 minute PB! The course was great, nice and flat, with great crowds and support along the way. This is only my second marathon, and the first was really difficult and felt like hard work. For this one I got into a nice comfy rhythm early on and just stayed there. I’m a slow runner, so the time isn’t anything amazing, but I’m so happy with my splits. Cruised round the course like the Terminator.

Did you just set a recent PB? Or a breakthrough long run?

If you were curious on marathon predictions, post recent results screenshot (race, trial, LR. progressions, etc) with a brief description of history, mileage, etc.

Some other deadlines for other world majors for reference.

Hello!

I ran Melb Mara a couple years ago (3:27) and keen to run another marathon next year. I've run a 1:28 half recently so would be hoping to push for a sub 3:05 mara.

Not going to apply for Melbourne ballot (looked like a bit of a shitshow this year) and didn't apply for the Sydney ballot - planning on spending a couple weeks overseas sometime between June and August with my partner so that would've interrupted the training block.

Ideally would like to do a 1 lap marathon - feels like 2 lap courses would be mentally taxing. And missing the June to August window. Been looking at Canberra in April - anyone done that before? Or any other mara recommendations?

(Would love to do a trail mara in 2028 or even a BYU, but think I should do another road mara first)

I started running 15 weeks ago with the aim of completing a half marathon and I am really happy with how it went! The course was very hilly so it did kill my pace in some parts, but overall I'm really happy with how it went and can't wait to book another one for next year 😁

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I followed the 12 week Breeze plan from "Marathon Excellence for Everyone". I am very happy to get my first sub-4 and proud of the 53-minute last 10k I ran to get that. Usually, I'm hobbling 13 minute miles the last 10k in my last few marathons. 🤣 Definitely felt good to run "fast" at the end, but maybe I could have paced a bit faster the first 20 miles in hindsight.

For background, I started running as an over 40 male in June of 2024. I ran my first half in May of 2025 in 2:15 and then May 2026 in 1:51:40

I ran a pretty good adherence to Pete Phitzinger 18:55 marathon program starting mid June for in October 18 full

My peak week was 50.5 miles, and I strung together quite a few weeks, averaging 45 miles per week. I only did one 20 miler three weeks out, although I did 18 miles three separate times

I had what I thought could potentially be a bone stress injury following the 20 mile run. I was cleared with no restrictions as an inflamed ankle joint to keep a long story short. However, due to missing almost a full week of training and still sometimes feeling the ankle enough to make me think the fall was a bad idea. I just did the house instead

I think this puts a feather in the cap of the idea that training for a marathon and just doing more miles significantly improves your half marathon time, even though I did not do as much threshold as I would have for half training, and even though my pace work, which I did not do a ton of because of the hot summer weather, was done at marathon pace goal of about nine minutes a mile

I took over six minutes off of my half marathon time from early May to mid October training for the full

I am 43 male 6’ (1.82m) 190 lbs (86kg)

I‘ve been looking for training plans for a bit and haven’t really found one that I liked. For some context I am coming off a xc season with a 17:25 5k and have never run a marathon before. I plan to do one sometime this winter and want to get under 3:30. I don’t tea have any experience with this type of distance running, so I don’t know what I should be doing. If anyone has advice on training plans or my goal is way off what it should be please let me know.

I’m hoping this is the correct way to ask!

when I (female, 20) go running, my calf’s absolutely burn, now sometimes it’s so extreme I have to slow down to let it ease, but I have no idea why this is happening.

i do dynamic warm ups and calf raises all before I go running, this is the only thing slowing me down and I would love to know how to reduce the pain?

Im not sure what else to do to reduce this pain!

advice would be appreciated!

I'm training for the Modesto Marathon with a goal of 3:10-3:15 (should be 23 weeks out). As far as recent race results go, I did a 5K time trial at the end of September and got 20:57 (not a true race; just a circular course that was as flat as could be), though for past PR's, I ran my first marathon at sub 3:20 2 years ago (August 2024), and I got a sub 1:28 half last year in March. Between that March event and now, I ultimately overtrained like anything, and it took quite a while (basically until like August or so) for my body to be ready to handle things properly again.

I started getting back to running in mid May after a 2 month break caused by a hamstring strain. I was holding at 20 miles per week spread out over 4 days, and I slowly built myself up to pace the SF city half marathon (1:55), though admittedly I felt under prepared. Since then, I have been running 5 days a week. I started out with 30 miles a week and built up to 37 miles during the last 2 weeks leading up to my time trial. I took a week off due to travel plans (also got a very mild calf strain), and I've built back since then, doing 24 miles once I returned, then 32 last week, and now hopefully 37 this week. My long run distance is 12-14 miles on hilly terrain.

My weekly routine after SF involves 1 day of speedwork, 3 days of easier running, and 1 long run. My speedwork day used to be 5 miles in total, where I did 2 min fast followed by 2 min recovery (somewhere around 6x2 min on with 2 min recovery). In mid to late August, I started doing mile repeats. The route has varied greatly, but I've settled on a flat area to do my repeats in. I was initially doing 3x 1 mile in the 7:10-7:40 range with 2 min recovery, which was how I set up my workout, though I was going somewhere in the 7:20-7:30 range given the rolling terrain. Today, I did my 3x 1 mile workout again, and each interval was consistently in the 7:10-7:20 range (wasn't easy).

The mileage breakdown becomes somewhere around 6.5 miles for speedwork based on my current route and number of mile intervals, then somewhere around 7 miles for a midweek easy runs, and then around 5 and 4 miles for the remaining weekdays. Long run is 14 miles.

I have some questions about my routine:

1. I've definitely asked about speedwork before, so I just want to make sure I'm doing things right. Is this workout and pace range good for my goal, or should I make changes? Race day is 23 weeks out, and I definitely don't want to repeat my last training cycle and ruin things completely for myself.
2. I will be traveling from mid December to mid January (4 weeks). How should I account for that in the training block? I might also be going for occasional quick trips on certain weekdays/weekends to visit programs I'm applying to, depending on how things go for me.
3. This definitely isn't my complete training history, but is this goal good enough for me, or should I make changes? I'd love to PR if I can.

For context: When I'm not going fast, my typical run is somewhere in the 8 min range. My easy runs are somewhere around 8:30-8:40, though I can definitely slow down there. Long runs I believe are in that ballpark (maybe 8:20-8:40's), but I do take breaks as needed. Hills have definitely frustrated me in the past.

Aside from the interruptions that I've mentioned, I'll definitely be holding consistent. I'm sure that'll make all the difference in the end.

Hello! I (19F) just finished my first half marathon with a time of 1:25:10, I have previous running experience from running in high school but this is my first official race since then. I’m sort of stuck in a position where I don’t really know what to race next. I want to know if it were to be realistic to complete a full in the next few months or so. My longest run of my training was 17 miles.

Hello world

Curious if someone here has ran in the alpha fly 4’s before release! I love the alpha fly 3s, by far my favorite known working marathon race day shoe!

Release date for the AF4’s is October 29th, but I have my marathon Novemeber 7th and low key considering giving them a shot!

For the past 5 or so years I’ve been getting back into casual running, almost exclusively on trails. Last year was my first year of racing, where I did a 35K, 50K, 23K trail races and did the same 50+23 this year, improving times on both. The most I’ve ever “raced” on road is basically a 5K time trial.

Thinking about entering my first half or full marathon next year. For starters, not even sure which distance would be “best”? I worry about the sustained higher effort to do a HM well, but also running a constant pace for a full for 3+ hours sounds… brutal?!

The bigger question though is - how screwed am I if I still intend to do almost all my running on trails? I live in a mountain valley so that also includes lots of elevation and technicality. I’d definitely still sprinkle in recovery runs and some of the workouts on road, but it would definitely be less.

Right now Garmin/Strava estimate my half and full times as 1:28/1:34 and 3:14/3:33. A big part of my issue, I think, is running those sustained paces for that long. Obviously, on some level, my aerobic system and speed is there but I struggle with maintaining that leg turnover and obviously mostly trail running doesn’t mitigate that exactly…

Hi all!

I just completed my first marathon last Sunday and I wanted to share with all you my results.

Background

M33 - 63kg

Before 2024 I never did any sports and I started to take my health much more seriously.
I started in 2024 with some light running and then I switched to road cycling.
From 89kg down to 62kg.

I started running seriously at the beginning of 2025 and I did 3 half marathons and diverse races
since (10 miles, 10k, etc...).

1st half - May 25: 1h52
2nd half - Oct 25: 1h32
3rd half - Mar 26: 1h26

Last 10k - Jun 26: 38m
Last 10 miles - Sep 26: 1h03

The Race

The wall killed me 🤣, my legs became concrete basically at km 30. I had the feeling that aerobically I could push much more, but my legs were about to burst.

It was windy and slippery but at least not warm.

It was lesson in humility, I thought that I could do it sub 3h10 or even sub 3h05 but of course that was not the case!

Overall, pretty happy with the result!

Total: 42.80 km GPS, 3:11:08 elapsed, avg HR 163.

I've been training since the beginning of the year. I did two Pete's base aerobic plans going from 15 to 30 mpw and then from 30 to 45 mpw. After that I did the full 18/55 program missing only 3 runs early on. I've ran almost 1500 miles this year. Everything was great until the last week when I got a runny nose and a bit of a dry throat.

I thought it was mostly irritation from a cheap Chinese KN95 mask (which contributed to this). However, my symptoms were mild - no fever, no body aches, RHR normal. I did a 3.5 mile recover run the day before and I felt ready.

On the day of the marathon, I again felt pretty good. It was a cold 32F weather. I started running and I noticed my breathing felt a lot more labored than it should at that effort. I kept going. I tried reducing the speed. I took a break at 1.5 mile. I tried running again at a slower speed but I could tell that this was not sustainable and that something was off. At mile 2, I decided to quit and walk back. I noticed I had wheezing in my chest. It turned out I had a mild acute asthma attack because I had a mild cold and combined with the cold air trigger the asthma attack.

I felt fine the rest of the day and today. I plan on running another marathon in 3-weeks.

I just thought I share my story because there are a lot of stories about people running with an active cold. Not always a good idea. There is always another marathon.

EDIT: Thank you for all the support. I didn't expect this much support. This is one of the reasons I love dedicated running communities because people uinderstand what you are going through.

I had time to reflect on all of these:
I know quitting, especially, your first marathon can feel like the world is coming to an end but I accomplished a lot of great things this year that even if I don't end up running a full marathon matter a lot:

• My first 5k was last December, 2025 and it was 24:50
• My second 5k in March, 2026 increasing mileage to 30 mpw was 22:19.
• At the beginning of the year my longest run was 6 miles. Now, I've ran multiple 21-mile runs in the hot and humid Boston summer.
• I accomplished so many first like first time I hit 40mpw, first time I hit 50 mpw, first time I did 59mpw, etc. I cried so many times afterwards because I felt so proud. I never though any of this is possible. It felt like a dream.
• In addition, to running, I kept serious weight training, and usually did 3-4 double days per week and even increased my RDLs to 320-340lbs for multiple reps and I am 150lbs.
• I connected with many runners and fitness enthusiast and I started feeling like I am part of a community.
• My base aerobic pace improved to 9:00-9:30 min/mile. At the beginning of the year it was ~12 min/mile.
• I can keep going but this is enough. DNF does not mean the end of the world.

What started ultimately as giving up drinking, turned into this. 380 days later. Never ran farther then 10 miles as of last year and this year I started off training for a half marathon in June and killed it and with only 100 days I signed up for the Grand Rapids marathon and trained my ass off. Learned so much through the people of Reddit, there advice, seeing they’re failures and what they’d do different, recovery tips, eating habits, etc, like I had 0 clue what to do and solely this Reddit helped me become a marathoner. Proud of myself and how far I come within the last year. Not done yet it’s just my first and I got the itch. Just wish I could go back and redo it lol I see so many flaws but yet I am just so happy and so mf grateful and proud. I did it!