A new marathoner

I have a niece that decided to run the California International Marathon December 5th with me.  Well, we won't be running together but we're both running it.  Yesterday, November 7th, she went on her first 20 miler and we ran it together.  She's so young and full of energy but really struggling with the training.  It would be a lot easier for her if one or more of her friends was training with her but she's trying to do it on her own.  I'd run with her more but she's more than a two hour drive from my house.  It just happened that I had some time yesterday and caught the right day to be able to make the drive and run with her.  I've tried to coach her a little over the internet, but being there made it a lot easier.  
I brought her a couple of things for her training: a couple of Cliff bars, a gel, two water bottles, samples of sun screen and lotion, a small packet of Cytomax.  It's crucial for her to try things during her training than to try them during the race.  As it turned out, the gel didn't work too well for her but she loved the Cliff bars.  
When we finished the run, she found out about stiff, sore feet and legs...big time!  I couldn't help but smile as I've been there many times, and much worse.  She kept saying that she thought she was going to die!  She was just sore.  I pointed out that I was a bit sore, had run the same distance without the energy bars or electrolyte drink or gel, but knew the feeling that she had.  Familiarity with the soreness didn't bother me.  The big thing was to keep her moving and not let her sit or lie down until she had rehydrated sufficiently and got more energy into her.  
She slowly recovered and went out to a nice pasta dinner.  
She's got one more 20+ miler to do before the marathon.  I now know she can do it and it feels great to watch her progress towards her goal.