Hello, Healthy Happier Bear readers! I’m Ali and I blog at Ali Runs. My blog follows my journey of finding a balance between grad school and my love for running. Since starting my blog last October, I have run 2 full marathons, four half marathons, and numerous other races at various distances.

My first full was the Atlantic City Marathon on October 17, 2010. I was lucky enough to train for and complete this race with my sister, Megan, by my side. Training with her was an amazing experience and she served as a constant motivator for me. We crossed the finish line of our first marathon hand in hand.

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I was hooked. I knew I wanted to run another marathon in the near future. I continued running all winter and completed my 1^st and 2^nd half marathons in the spring.

Shortly after, I began researching fall marathons and finally decided on the Niagara Falls International Marathon.

I quickly found out that training for a marathon on my own was much different than training with my sister. I worked hard to fit my training plan around grad school responsibilities and maintaining a social life.

It wasn’t easy, but here are some tips I learned about training for a marathon solo.

1.) Use Twitter for motivation (My twitter name: @runner_ali)

This summer and fall, my twitter feed was filled with people training for marathons. Both Saturday and Sunday mornings, most of the people I follow were tweeting about their long runs. They were all so encouraging and motivating. I never felt like I was alone in marathon training, because there were so many other people I could relate with.

2.) Use races as part of training runs

One of my favorite aspects of running is races! You get to really push yourself and see what your body can handle. This past fall I ran two half marathons, one of which I ran as part of a 16 mile long run. While this is not recommended for all long runs, it is fun to incorporate this into training every now and then.

3.) Establish a realistic plan

Don’t set yourself up for failure. My training plan worked for me because I was realistic. I based the plan on the amount of work I had for grad school and attempting to maintain my social life. My plan for this training cycle took this into consideration which helped me stay positive and motivated.

4.) Meet up with running buddies

While I didn’t have someone to train with consistently for my long runs, my sister did join me for a few miles during some of my long runs. This helped break the mileage up and the time went by much faster than if I was running the entire long run solo.

5.) Read race recaps

This is my go to trick when I am feeling really unmotivated for a long run. One of the good things about having a blog is that I have written a race recap for most of the races I’ve completed. Reading back through some of the posts really inspires me.

Before I had my own blog, I would often turn to other blogger’s race recaps for motivation. This almost always motivates me into getting out there and run.

6.) Discuss with parents, friends, families, etc.

At first, some of my friends didn’t quite understand why I was missing some of the social outings. When I told them I was training for a marathon, they were excited for me and often asked how training was going.

My family and boyfriend also supported me a great deal during marathon training and during the race. This was very important to me and I’m not sure I could have done it without them.

My last tip is to have fun!! Training for a marathon is an amazing experience whether your train with a friend or solo!