26.2 miles is a long way to run. For first-time marathon runners, when you line up at the start the most you’ll have ever run before is probably 18 or maybe 20 miles. You’ll wonder whether you can find it in you to run those extra miles on the day – after all you felt dreadful at the end of your longest run and couldn’t have taken another step.
Marathon running requires you to take a massive leap of faith. As you step over the line for the first time, you’re stepping into the unknown.
People have made the same journey before you, taken that same leap and forged a path to prove that, yes, it is possible to find those extra miles and stay strong to the finish. But that might not help you feel any more confident as you wait nervously for the race to get underway.
But remember when you couldn’t fathom how you’d be able to run 16 miles by yourself? And now you long for being able to run ‘just 16 miles’. All good things come from taking chances, from trusting in yourself that you have an extra untapped reserve. Good things have already come from it. 
The bad news is that this feeling won’t go away with subsequent marathons. As I stand at the start of marathon number six I’ll doubt that I can hold the pace that I kept up for 20 miles for an extra 6.2 and make it to the time goal I set myself. I’ll doubt too that the foot injury that stopped me running for 10 days will submit long enough to let me finish the race without hobbling. But does this mean I shouldn’t try?
Marathons don’t come round very often. They’re not like 10K races that you can bounce back from in a couple of weeks and have another crack at a PB. They take time to prepare properly for and time to recover from. So there’s a balancing act to negotiate – go off too hard and ruin your race or take it easy, play it safe and possibly sell yourself short. I’ve done both in the past.
The events in Boston this week are a reminder that getting that PB, that few minutes quicker than last time isn’t the be all and end all of running. That running is a gift that unites us and brings the best out of us no matter how fast or slow we go. But the pursuit of self-improvement is part of why we run, to be a better version of ourselves than we were yesterday. Boston embodies that more than most races with its qualifying times that thousands of runners have spent years edging closer to in their quest to run this race.

As I stand at the start of my next marathon I’ll have four words written on my hand to remind me of my goal: “Dream big – take chances.” Because it doesn’t matter if I fail, it matters that I tried. And maybe one day I’ll get that Boston qualifying time too.