CBRC

I have been running for just over two years and have a couple of half-marathons and the Ragnar Relay under my belt. This year I've decided to try the Marine Corps Marathon since I've always wanted to try it.
My question is which program would you marathon finishers recommend, the Jeff Galloway program or the Hal Higdon?

Thanks for welcoming a newbie to CBRC.

Welcome. I have used the "Smart Coach" on RunnersWorld.com and modified it to fit my schedule. I also have a couple of Hal's books with plans in them. For my fall Marathon this year I'm going to give Pfitzinger's 18/55 plan a try (just got my copy of "Advanced Marathoning"). I have not used Galloway's plan. Another good book I read before my first full marathon was "Marathoning for Mortals" by John Bingham. Find a training schedule that you can do and fits with your situation. I like a schedule I can tweak around if I need to, in case something comes up and I have to cancel a run or do it another day. Good Luck at MCM!!!

Caveat: I'm only another amateur runner with only a few years experience, so take this with a heavy grain of salt.

I looked at some before my first marathon. The beginners' ones I saw seemed all similar to me -- slowly increasing mileage, with a long run on the weekend which slowly increased (and usually cut back one week out of 4 or so), and a midday mid-long run.

The more advanced ones seem to throw in some speedwork, or some tempo/long run mixes, so they get more varied.

One variation I saw was that most programs did a long run every weekend, but some do it every other weekend (eg, 14,8,16,10,18,10,14,10,20,10 -- that's a series I just made up, to illustrate every other week long, with a cutback).

I wound up doing my own plan, and I didn't go long every weekend, but tried to go long almost every other weekend. But that was what worked for me at the time.

I'm a big fan of Hal Higdon. I've used his Novice program for seven marathons. For the last five, I've increased some of the long runs by two miles so I get a 22 miler in there. Enjoy training for MCM!