Antony to go from nothing to running a marathon in 14 months is nothing short of a massive achievement. It's took me 3 years to get to running my first marathon and even then I opted for a flatish one as I could not see me doing anything with hills for that distance so well done on completing it and we all pick up injuries but thats no reason to be down about it.

Great post Lauren.

Ha, ha - although I'm not sure knowing what to expect (that your body will implode and from mile 16 you'll be wishing the ground whould open up and swallow you whole to put you out of your never-ending misery) is much incentive for me to get off the sofa :-)  Maybe I need to give another one a go just to find out if it was as bad as I remember.....

"I think that we runners can spend so much time reading about other people's race times and getting all competitive, that we end up doing down our own achievements." So very true. And with reading about all the ultras these days, you can convince yourself that 26.2 is easy, a stroll in the park, when obviously its not. 

Oh, and congrats for finishing Brighton!

YOu should feel proud of yourself you did a marathon and you finished which is amazing and well done you. Think of all the people you would love to do a marathon and for one reason or another cant. Be proud you have done the first one thats only the beginning next time you will get the time you want.Imagine how you would have felt if you had had to give up part way round once again amazing you could carry on and shows the determination WELL DONe!!!

Antony, I am sure in the coming days and weeks you'll be able to look at it with perspective and hindsight, and feel more positive about it - and it'll give you the hunger to come back and take care of unfinished business.

The other thing is that running your first marathon is a big learning experience - you'll be psychologically stronger and more aware, and it'll stand you in good stead.

Well done on a really good achievement that you should be proud of. Don't knock it, millions of people think about doing marathons, only a tiny fraction ever actually do it.

I understand how you feel, having been in a similar position myself in my first marathon.  For me it was bitter disappointment at first because I broke down in the 2nd half, even though I waddled over the line.  It shouldn't have been like that! Then over time a slightly warmer feeling (no, not nipple rub) replaced the disappointment as I belatedly came to appreciate that I had finished my first marathon; something that I'd always wanted to do.

So don't beat yourself up and CONGRATULATIONS for getting round!!  Now you've got a target to smash in your next one :-)