My first marthon was the Twin Cities Marathon on 4 October, 1998 in Minnesota. I ran 3:39:24. My first half time for the Twin Cities (1:34:50) was actually a fast half marathon time for me. (I had to struggle to beat it in Mahomet.) I collapased at about mile 18 and staggered to finish with about 14 min miles from 23 on.

Ravi Athale also runs and emailed me a discussion of his first marathon experience.