Honestly... 5K to marathon in 6mo?

[ctdoula]

Is this possible??? I've recently gotten into running. I'm barely at the 2miles/day mark now and a friend is asking me to do a marathon with her in October. Is this even possible??

[Geofizz]

Plenty.  Google "beginning marathon training plan."  Most are 16-20 weeks from 3 to 26 miles.

[sewaneecook]

That's plenty of time!  I'd sign up for a half marathon somewhere in the middle to help gauge your progress.  In 3 months I trained for a half marathon last year after not running a single step (or doing much other exercise) in 5 years!  I used this plan for the half: http://running.about.com/od/racetraining/a/basichalf.htm That race was in April, I took a couple months off and then started this plan for a marathon in October:  http://running.about.com/od/marathonprograms/a/marathonbeg.htm.  The mile buildup was gradual and I was able to adapt it to fit my schedule.  There were some weeks that I felt horrible on every run and other weeks that I felt like I could conquer the world.  I never did every single run in a week, life got in the way too often.  My only goal was to finish and I did (and got a decent time too!).  Jeff Galloway has a walk/run plan that is popular and manageable.  Google "marathon training schedules" to find one that seems right for you.  There are some plans that are crazy with high mileage ... stay away from those for your first marathon.  FYI, I still find the first 2-3 miles of any run to be the hardest.  After that I warm up and find my rhythm.  Just because you haven't run the longer distances doesn't mean you can't!  It also really helps to have a running buddy ... someone else who is training for a marathon at the same time.  You can talk about training and find solutions that help overcome problems!  You don't necessarily have to run together, just commisserate together!

I won't lie, training for a marathon is time consuming and takes a lot of energy.  If you have little ones at home it is tough, but do-able (my little ones were 4 and 15 months when I ran the marathon).