Dad Good luck getting back in the groove. By all means, keep up with the check ups. For men especially, genetics plays a huge part in cardiac health. If your father/grandfather had heart trouble you are at higher risk. We have access to better screening and testing now more than ever. With that and all the info we have at our finger tips, there really is no good excuse not to be proactive in your own health care. DB

Luckily I married into a family of SERIOUS runners...FIL once ran Chicago, my MIL's (who runs probably 10-15 miles/week and bikes a lot, too) sister ran lots of marathons in her younger days (now 25ks are her limit, but she helps organize a popular ultra trail race in MI), her hubby has run Western States at least once...so no flack from that side. And my family thinks it's great, too. I'm the first "runner" in the family. My brother runs maybe 10-15 miles/week, but he also wants to someday do a marathon...maybe in a couple of years. He is finishing grad school at the moment and working full-time, so no time for marathon training.