mrschmelz - you underestimate Maureen (mmoranmic). She is a fantastic ultramarthoner, for her 12-13 miles/hour - close to the Marathon world record speed - a slow jog:-))) Ok, I am sure she wanted to say 12-13 min/mile:-)

Gals/guys you all can do it. Anybody, who does not have any serious heart condition or serious previous leg injury can run a mini Marathon.

mrschmelz - to comitting yourself to a mini Marathon was a very good and brave decision. Nothing stupid in it. Last January I comitted myself to a mini Marathon too. And I DID IT:-))) I needed a little more time than 4 months, because of the total lack of previous running experience, and because of my age - 46, but I did it. There is no better motivation than a mini Marathon comitment on the fridge:-) (My full Marathon comitment there too.)

GypsyAngel - if you start running you will see the pounds melting giving more strength to running, melting more pounds:-)) You have plenty of time for the Boston Marathon. Do you know how many 60-70-80 year old are there?
Check the runnersworld, one of the best site. I followed their program from 30 min walk to running a mini Mararthon, and following their program to the full Marathon too.

So see you all in Boston:-)))) Meanwhile please, share your training/race experiences. We all can learn a lot from each other.