Hey, Cat Fans.
I am a casual runner who averages about a 9:30 pace, and have signed up for my first marathon in February. I'm mainly concerned with beating WM Bro's time (which I should do?) and beating Oprah's marathon time of 4:29 (which will be harder). The longest run I've done so far is a half.
Which marathon training program should I use? Right now I'm leaning toward Higdon's Novice 1, but that's mainly because it's the first search result in Google and I haven't seen any others. Any pro-tips on selecting the right training program? Running 3x per week instead of 4x is preferred, but if I have to do four, then I'll get jiggy with it.