After nearly 27 years of running there is a lot of things I could write here.......but I have all of that in the journals at home......no need to repeat myself. I started running in January 1980 at 2 miles a day and built to 4 miles a day by the end of that year......I was in the Air Force in Arkansas so I ran mostly on an oval quarter mile track across the street from my barracks. I count long runs as 13 miles or more so I did my first in 1982.....still in the Air Force........I sat out one day off base and turned around when I felt like it and ran back to base.....it ended up being 16.2 miles in 2:15:03.....8:20 pace....that was June 17th, 1982. I left the Air Force in August, 1982 and and came back home to California......the next month I posted my first 10 mile average month......300 miles in September, 1982. I will back track a moment......I did my first race in July, 1982 while still in Arkansas....a 4 miler in 24:48.....6:12 pace. Trough 1982 I pretty much posted 7 to 9 mile average months and then dipped the first half of 1983 to posting 4 to 5 miles average months......I then started back up..from July through the end of '83.....my monthly average was 8 to 10.5 miles. On the last day of 1983 I did my first run of over 20 miles......I did 20.8 miles in 2:30:46....a 7:14 pace.....I was preparing to run my first Marathon on January 15th, 1984......I ran it in 3:03:03.....a 6:59 pace.......I felt great from start to finish and only took water on time.....at the half way mark........when you are 23 you can get away with that.......in those days I did not carbo load at all. I divide my running life up into 5 different eras...1980 to 1984 was the first era......I am presently in my 5th era......it is not always apparent when one era ends and another begins unitl I am a year or more into the new era. 1980 to 1984 took me from beginner to Marathoner.....novice Marathoner....but Marathoner none the less.