I'm 49 and live with my wife and two boys in Newburyport, Massachusetts. I try to run 10-20 miles a week, but am often injured. Usually I run on the treadmill for the sake of my knees. I cross-train a lot: calisthenics, weights, elliptical. It's fun to get out there on a cross-country course when I can. Looking forward to meeting more runners here and in real life. Dark Horse

Yes, I am just outside of Charlottesville. Are you running in the Marine Corps half?

Yes, I had to give it a shot since it's in my backyard. Honestly, though, I've got mixed feelings about it. My understanding is they came in and sold this to the City Council and business leaders as a way to make money, pure and simple, and virtually ignored the running club that already exists here and already runs a 1/2 marathon. Not cool. Also, I've got some questions about the route they've chosen. Especially the fact that they're channeling 5,000 runners down our "canal path" which is not very wide. I woudln't be surprised to see a serious bottleneck for mid-packers. Our local 1/2--which I like very much-- overlaps with this course, but we're talking 400 runners, not 5,000. Still, I'll give it a shot and hope for the best. BTW, we've got a nice "Grand Prix" series with a dozen races next year. They're mostly small 300-500 runners and not fancy, but usually well organized. See: http://www.runfarc.com/Grand_Prix.html ETA: Hmmmm, the Charlottesvile 10-miler looks tempting too. Maybe I could talk my wife into making a weekend of it and do some hiking on the other day.

Jemmama's avatar will give me nightmares.

ETA: Hmmmm, the Charlottesvile 10-miler looks tempting too. Maybe I could talk my wife into making a weekend of it and do some hiking on the other day.

Tramps, vista, jemmama,... More info on Cville 10 Miler...It's the most popular race in Charlottesville. Last year there were about 1800 runners, so it is a decent sized race. It is like a big party with live music and incredible amount of fan support along the course. The race is very well organized. Here is the course map with elevation profile. As to be expected for this area, there are some hills, but it's not that bad.

From what you all say, maybe it's a good thing that it's too late for me to sign up for the Marine Half. I was waiting on a friend who lives in Fredericksburg to check out the route and let me know if it's very hilly. Hills are out for me with my achilles thing. But I'd love to find a fairly flat half, or 10-miler, for the spring. A goal would help get me out the door come January and February. I live north of you guys, in the Dulles area, and need to find a race closer to home than Charlottesville. Like wildchild's dh (I think), mine is a "semi-supportive" non-runner, but of course a wonderful husband and father. Destination races are not in my foreseeable future. Tramps, my kids would tell you that my avatar suits me - sometimes I'm a mean one, like my friend the Grinch. Jem

Hi Running Ahead Masters! I am Larry from CR and see alot of familiar faces here. It will be interesting to see where everyone will land. I took up running in my late 40's for about 3 years, ran some marathons and got into mountain trail running. Fell from grace and started back to running after I gave up the half gallon of Jack Daniels to sampling Daniel's running formula...a much healthier alternative. Have been back to running for about 3 years or so and just completed my first marathon this month since my return to grace. I have tried to figure out what kind of runner that I am and settled on recreational runner. My reasons for running now is because I can, and I love the activity. I don't xtrain, because I would rather run when I have the oppertunity for excercise, besides, I am not all that crazy about doing workouts where I am not atleast feeling like I am moving thru space. I think muscle balance can be achieved by running on different surfaces, terrain and effort levels, though I never run on a track. Good runs all, Larry

I'm a 45-year-old structural engineer and mom of 3 kids - two boys, 12 and 15, and a girl, 9. My husband and I run our own firm out of our house, so I have lots of flexibility to run whenever I want to. I started the C25k program in October 2006. I NEVER ran before, except when forced to as a kid. In 2007, I ran a one-mile race (came in 117th out of 118), eight 5k races (PR of 34:15, whoo hoo), and one 10k race (to my great surprise, I managed to run 5 miles of it without stopping). Now I'm doing Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Program for Novices. I signed up for a women's HM in Maine next September, so I should have time to train adequately for it. My "long run" tomorrow will be 4 miles. My 15-year-old son is my inspiration. His 5k PR is 17:06, and he's improving all the time. His high school team won the Maine Class B state XC championship this fall. He can run 10 miles without even thinking about it. He encourages me all the time, and thinks it's great that I can run 4 miles in 48 minutes, lol. This is a great group, and I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you! Merry Christmas!

Hi, I am older than all of you and I have been running since 2004. I have never gotten much faster but I do love to do it. I have completed 9 marathons and I am registering as a charity runner for Boston in 2008. I currently have a sore hip flexor and a torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder. I am looking forward to running the Carlsbad half marathon in January and the Ragnar del Sol relay with my teammates in February.