Wow, Thanks for all the great advice.

One of the posters suggested I provide more details as to my fitness level. I am 41 and I was in horrible shape in February. Since then I have lost 40 lbs, and I am now running 10 minute miles. My goal is to finish the marathon in 5 hours. Right now I believe that's doable. :-) From a fitness level I feel above average now.

I will have to try the biking thing again. I used to bike all the time. After I put on the weight I couldn't handle it.

From what everyone has suggested I think I have a good place to start. When training for the marathon the rule is not to exceed a 10% rule. Never exceed any distance by more than 10% at any one time. I think I will adapt that rule to not only distance, but also weight. My marathon training I work from a chart that spells out mileage per day over a 16 week period of time. I think I will build something similar for this training and post it here for people's comments.

I am limited on places to go here to practice altitude changes without actually going to the AT or the North Georgia mountains. Maybe I will start with hiking up Stone Mountain's walk up trail. Its about 1.3 miles long rising from about 1100 feet to 1680 feet. Later I will make the drive to the North Georgia mountains.

I am looking forward to more hints.

Thanks