Running My First Marathon At 40

It’s time for Andy to take on his first marathon. Will he break 3 hours? Will he be able to finish? Can he get his gel timings right? Will his knee be ok? These are all the thoughts going round Andy’s head as he takes to the startline of Valencia marathon for his first ever 26.2 mile experience. Wish him luck!

↓↓ Have you run a marathon? Got any advice for Andy? Let us know in the comments! ↓↓

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What's in this video:
00:00:00 - Preparation for the Valencia Marathon
00:01:23 - Pre-Race Nerves
00:02:46 - Crossing the Start Line
00:04:32 - Learning from my Longest Run
00:06:00 - Pushing the pace
00:07:41 - Overcoming Pain and Building Confidence
00:09:14 - The Pain of Running
00:10:41 - Pushing Through The Pain
00:12:12 - The Finish Line

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[MsRafanatic]

Well done, Andy! Just a ftiendly reminder that Sifan Hassan stopped twice to stretch and still won the London marathon. Stopping does not make your run any less special! ❤

[Tom_Plumb_PHS]

Freddie making a sub 3 marathon look like a park run warmup 🤯. Seriously well done Andy i did my first marathon this year too andbi took it a lot easier than you did. You should be very proud. 😊

[mayankthakur]

Freddy is a beast. Casually running a sub 3 marathon while filming and running backwards at times.

[TheLooseForward]

Who would have thought an Olympian could be so relatable whilst running faster than I’ll ever run! Love it.

[rogerrichards]

Well done Andy and special thanks to Freddie for recording it for us YouTube viewers. You will never forget your first!

[doubletee]

Sub 3 hours is very impressive. Well done Andy, well done indeed.
Congrats to Freddy, too. He looked like he could have turned round and run back.

[marclivingstone]

Andy always impresses me with his willingness to show his vulnerability. He's an accomplished Olympic athlete but still has and is willing to show his struggles. Well done Andy, a great inspiration!

[garethjones]

The fact that an olympic athlete found a marathon distance hard is reassuring. Andy's sure grit & determination is truly inspirational! 🙌🏻

[seascape]

I’m a lot older than Andy, a lot heavier, a LOT slower, with an irregular heartbeat (afib), and I’m training for my first marathon in 12 weeks! Andy’s journey has helped me overcome many of my fears, raised some new ones, and inspired me to believe that I can complete one too. Thank you for taking us along from start to finish!

[bmurphy]

Congratulations Andy! Thank you for sharing every step of this with us. I am 37, a father of 2, and I just ran my first marathon yesterday. Your honest presentation and communication of your experience gave me so much inspiration to tackle my training and my race. Thank you for shining your light to all of us!

[Hanskazan]

Can we all just share some love for the whole TRC team?? Seriously, the dedication these coworkers and friends have for each other is amazing. Love Freddy (can we have a more detailed video on his story??) who pushes everyone through at the end (Anna, Sarah, and now Andy) much love to you all ❤️

[monikaczng]

I love how you can hear Sarah's cheering here and there during the video 🥰 congratulations Andy, this has been such an amazing challenge for you to accomplish and for us to follow long ❣

[nick-shak]

Huge congrats Andy! I'm the bloke in the red and white vest saying hello on the start line 👋 - hello from Hyde Park Harriers in Leeds! I shared a lot of the pain you describe, but crossing that blue finish line was truly magical and made it all worth it. This was my third marathon and I managed my first sub-3 with a 2:56:41. Congrats again and see you on the next one?
Nick from Leeds

[remyvdk]

Well done Andy, sub 3 hours is a massive achievement for a marathon debut! I'm still working on sub 4 after missing that goal by a minute in Amsterdam this year, or perhaps that just gave me an excuse to sign up for another marathon next year... 😊

[whitelightrider]

Im 46 and training for my 1st Marathon in 9 weeks here in Ireland. Wont be hitting anywhere near that time, but my aim is to cross the line, alive!! Thank you for the inspirational video

[Mpatey]

Your first 5k was almost as fast as my fastest park run, so seriously impressive for your first time. It’s lovely to see the human side of you in the video and well done the Running channel family for getting you home.

[onc-gz]

Congrats Andy! I'm 38 and I'll be running my first marathon in Brighton in April.

[brent_f]

Congratulations Andy. Sub 3 for first marathon is beyond amazing.👏👏👏 Thanks for bringing us along.

[uncomfortablestretch]

🏃❤️ TRC videos and especially Andy’s runs 🏃have inspired me to take up running, and it’s given me a second wind on my weight loss journey 📉 (nearly 6 stone lost) so huge congratulations Andy and the Team.
But mostly thank you because you’re helping people to find they’re inner runner ❤️🏃be stronger mentally and physically, and live longer 💪🏻

[gavinbarclay]

Great to see a retired 1500m runner be able to take on a sub 3 hour marathon with 3 runs a week! Quality over quantity, very inspiring