Hello Guys and Girls! I have always been a short distance runner (200m, 400m). Last April I ran 3 trail runs (25K, 20K, 20Km my longest runs by that time) and I did pretty well considering that I had never ran more than 10K. One morining, in the end of July last year, I woke up and said that I wanted to do a marathon. The Athens marathon was on November 4th. I must say that I mosttly did my training mentally:I kept telling myself everyday how much I wanted to finish the marathon. In fact,my training in August was every weekend, where I did 2 times 10k. In September I ran 30K in a race in 2:54. After that, I got the flu and ran again in October a 21K race in 1:58. I did the marathon in November 4th in 4:02. (5K: 30:24, 10K:1:00, 21K:2:03, 30K:2:56, 42K:4:02). A month before the marathon I did an ergometric test and the guy advised my to go with a 6min/kilometer and to take a gel every 30 minutes which I did although I am a bit sceptical about these gels. I assume I was feeling good since I went faster after the second half. I did the last 2 Kilometers in full sprint, which means that I had a lot of energy. When I finished I was not feeling tired at all and I recovered in 2 days. I'm pretty sure that I did well in the marathon only because I was very excited and did not think of getting tired (I did not even feel the 16K of uphill!). Now, I am targeting on the second marathon (November 9th) and I'm afraid I will not even make it to the finish, even though I do train this time. After the marathon last year I run a couple of other races (20k) and I developed knee pain. Maybe this is what makes me worry that I will not make it this year. Today I ran 21k in 2hours. I started with 5:30/kilometer until the 15K. After that I went with 5:58/kilometer, that is, I slowed down, excatly the opposite of what I did in the marathon. Do you think I should start with a 6/K pace and speed after the 30K? Also, at what pace shoudl teh long runs be? I do feel my knees aching a bit after today's long run, hence my worries! I am 33 years, 48kg. And I'm very sorry for the looong story!