Marathon Rookie website review

by | Reviews, Websites

Takeaway
Marathon Rookie.com is a website written by a non-runner who just completed his first marathon recently and is trying to help others complete their first one. The site was written by Brad Boughman, and the motto for him and his site is, “How to Train for a Marathon or Half Marathon – and have FUN doing it!” This is a review of the Marathon Rookie website.

Pros

  • Simple design and easy to navigate to every page on the site.
  • Great directories of available races.
  • Novice runners will be able to quickly get up to speed on the most important aspects of training.
  • Brad is very active and quick to respond to questions.
  • The newsletter is easy to subscribe to.
  • All past issues of the newsletter are available to new subscribers.

Cons

  • There is no grouping of the various types of articles in the navigation bar.
  • The race directories do not list dates or seasons.
  • Experienced runners will not find much new in the available tips.
  • Many of the non-running related products advertised do not seem to fit.
  • Subscribing to emails navigates you away from the site’s theme (you do remain on the same site), and the confirmation email is slow to arrive.

Review
The site has a fairly simple layout that makes navigation easy and leaves no doubt about what the website is there for. There is a clearly defined purpose, and the user is greeted right away with Brad’s motto and a general description of how he can help somebody complete their first marathon. Navigation is straightforward; every page on the site is linked along the navigation on the left side bar. The navigation could use a little more in the way of visually sorting, since there is no differentiation between features, products, or advice.

The site does have a lot to offer. There are American, Canadian, European, and Australian directories of marathons and half marathons available, separated out by state or country. Finding a race in a particular location is very easy, but the race date or the season the race falls in is not listed and there is no search functionality. There has been recently added a form for submitting new races that do not appear on the site, so the directory should be updated on a regular basis as new users submit their own favorite races.

There are some good basic level tips on different topics such as stretching and injury prevention. There are also some topics that a new runner may not necessarily have were important to running, such as running form and heart rate. Most of the advice is fairly straight forward and includes color pictures where illustration is helpful. Somebody that is new to running would do well with looking through these sections. Experienced runners will not gain much from them, as most of the advice is things that can easily be learned on ones own with experience or by any sort of team experience at high school, college or club levels.

There are plenty of product links, both to products that are sold by Brad through the website and to products sold by other companies that would be of use to a runner. The products and resources pages have quite a few useful items showcased, although the products under general resources have little value from a runner’s perspective. I will be reviewing Brad’s marathon eBook tomorrow. In the meantime, you should go check out the website at www.marathonrookie.com.