Marathon Training | Who do you listen to?

I'm getting closer and closer to being half way through my official training schedule, mine being slightly longer than most due to choosing to run Edinburgh, thus giving myself 6 extra weeks. I naively entered Edinburgh before I had even ran my first half marathon, it's a good job I didn't hate it and give up on running all together.

Over the first 7 weeks of my marathon training, I have felt every emotion known to man, ranging from I can bloody do this - to if I get run over I have a legitimate excuse to not run, the latter being a bit dramatic. I'm in two minds as to whether I am loving the training or hating it. I am so tired and hungry all the time. How is a girl meant to loose weight and train for a marathon - it's near on impossible. But at the same time I am loving ticking the sessions off my training plan and making it to further distances.

One thing I am struggling with is who do you listen to? Especially as a member of a running club, everyone has ran a marathon and all have different tips and approaches to training. It can get really overwhelming and you start to compare yourselves to others, which is something I have been trying to avoid. So far I have stuck with a group of 3 and it has been working out very well. However none of them are using any races as training and I'm stuck between what to do!

Do you race during your training?