This week is the start of my marathon training for the Chicago Marathon in October. My goal for this marathon is to run under 4 hrs. This will be the first leg of my journey on the way to Boston. My hope is to run under 4 hrs this year and then run 2 marathons in 2008 while I try to qualify for the Boston marathon in 2009 when I’ll be 40.

I’ll be following the 24-week, 55-mile Pete Pftizinger plan from the Advanced Marathoning book.

I have no doubt that I will make the time run the necessary mileage and perform the required workouts. My only fear is my right knee. Even though it seemed to have been fine for the last 5 weeks or so, I started to get some slight discomfort last week. I’m resting it for now, but I’m hoping it holds up for the next several months. The first few weeks of the plan will actually be lighter than the 40 mpw I’ve been running recently so hopefully that would help.