Dave and I just closed on our house and are moving a few carloads and doing laundry (I NEED SOCKS!)! MY wonderful blend Jess is stepping in for me tonight with an excellent guest post for all of you runners out there!

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Hi everyone. I’m Jess from jessruns.com and I’m helping Abby out today while she’s busy moving in to her new house.

As Abby’s regular readers know, Abby registered for the Pittsburgh Marathon several weeks ago. And I just finished running the Philadelphia Marathon myself.

With the new year upon us and it being time to put together race calendars and make resolutions, I thought it would be a good time to share what you should consider before signing up for a marathon.

Do you have the time? Training for a marathon is a big time commitment and will take about three to four months if you want to prepare well. Be ready to set aside time a couple times a week for short runs and then one day during the weekend for your long runs. If you know you have a jammed packed calendar in the spring, you could consider a fall marathon instead.

Will you mind sacrificing your social calendar? If you have a long run on the calendar for a Saturday morning, will you mind giving up your Friday nights to carb-load and go to bed early? Sure sometimes you’ll be able to shift the long run to Sunday and then be able to enjoy your Friday, but there’s a lot of sacrifice involve. You can make it work though, if you’re flexible.

How will your training affect other people in your life? If you’re married or have kids, you’re going to have to make adjustments to your schedule to fit your runs in so you’ll want to make sure your significant other is on board. Work out a plan in advance. Maybe you’ll run in the mornings, while your SO gets the kids ready and then you’ll pick them up at the end of the day. It will take team work to get your to the start line, so plan for it in advance.

Are you healthy and injury-free? If you’re just coming off an injury, you might not want to jump right back in to marathon training. Pick a shorter race instead to make sure you’re totally healthy so you don’t get re-injured.

A marathon is a great goal for the new year and the sense of accomplishment you feel when crossing the finish line is second to none. So if running a marathon is one of the goals for the year, be sure you’re ready before you make the commitment.

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Thanks Jess!! I’m anxious to hear if this post changes anyone’s mind (one way or the other) about running a marathon…

What races are you planning on running in Spring 2011?

Right now I am committed to the PIttsburgh Marathon, and I will probably run the Cook Forest Half Marathon in March.