General questions for a beginner...

[Aaron]

I'll start with a brief description about me.  I'm 31 and have just started running again after ten years of being sedintary.  I used to run a lot in the Air Force and was down to a 21 min. 5k.  I am reading everything I can and looking at differant training schedules to train for a marathon.  If anyone has and ideas about schedules that worked for you let me know.  Also, I was wondering about muscle pain.  If I go out and do three miles and have muscle soreness....being as I'm just starting to run....should I wait until the pain completely goes away (say 3-5 days) or stick to the schedule I'm on and run the miles on the schedule?

[Jon Allen]

Aaron- if you go an easy few miles, and nothing long or hard, I would say keep running everyday.  If you are still having the soreness after a few weeks of running, then ask us again- but I bet you'll be used to it by then.

By the way, when is your marathon?  We usually encourage people to ease back into running, especially a marathon, rather than follow some crash-course program that might let you finish a marathon, but may injure you, burn you out, or leave you at the finish line knowing you could run much, much faster.  Even a build up of a year or more before your first marathon might be wise.  Make your first marathon experience a good one- and 10k's and half marathons can be just as challenging, without some of the downsides, for a new runner.  Just some food for thought.