who here has made a comeback?

I'm in the process of making a comeback right now.. I haven't really raced in three years because I've had season ending injuries. I'll see what happens and hopefully I don't get injured.

I took about 6 years off from running after I graduated from college. Then around the age of 29 I decided to get back into it. In college I was an 800 meter runner mainly. Nothing special, 1:54 and I think I ran a 4:07 1500. My goal is to beat that 1500 time. I've been back to running for about 3 and a half years now. I think I am better at longer distances (10K, 1/2 marathon) now than I was back then. Of course I'm doing much more mileage now than I used to. Back in college I hated just running miles, I wanted to either be doing intervals or racing. Now I really enjoy getting in a nice long run. However, I'm having a very hard time getting any speed back. Plus its hard to find good track meets to run in so I do mostly road races. Since starting my comeback I have managed to run 4:17 in the 1500, so I still have some work to do. But I'm still getting there, things definitely take longer these days than they used to for me.

former teammate of mine, ran like 1:57 in highschool, 51 split in the 4x4, took about two years off before running for a few years at the communitiy college level. He PR'd ran like 1:54, and a 49 split in the 4x4 after two seasons back i think.

Michael Renaue (sp?) of Hansons quit running after highschool. He was pretty good in highschool, on the same team as Ryan Miessen (2 time olympic marathon qualifier) and Jason Finch (multi div 3 all-american). I think he wrestled or something like that, and didn't run for a few years.

He started running again about 2 or 3 years ago, and he ran like 2:17 for the marathon in Houston, he's 29 or so.

Two years is not a very long time away from the sport.

John Campbell (NZ) made several comebacks and set a masters WR in the marathon.

A friend of mine came back after six years, then ran 800m in 1'45 at age 30.

I ran 13'58 5000m in college. Three years off. Took me about 2 years to get the mileage back up - its harder with a job! Ran 29' 10k and 65' half marathon at 28.

Good luck

In the process right now... its fun. I havent PRd at any distance since graduating college in 2003. Been training on my own seriously since last november, though. Looking to set some new marks this spring. Strangely enough the stuff i get on lets run has been good motivation.

My high school coach, Dan Aldridge, stopped training after his pro years and has recently started training again for the 800m, with a legit goal of sub 2 this outdoor season. He will compete at the Masters Indoor nats for his first track race in decades in the 50-54 age group, so once he does that he will have officially made his comeback. He ran 1:49 as a HS'er in '75, as well as having PR's of 3:38.70, 7:48.02, and 13:30.95 from the 80's, so he won't be PRing. So once he gets that race in he will count.

I was a mediocre talent in HS and college, and quit at 23 with knee problems. Started training again at 38-39, it took about a year to catch up to my old times. I have held pretty steady in the ten years since, which has moved me up considerably in relation to my peers, to say the least.

I'm in the process of making a comeback. All of my PRs (except for my recent marathon) are from my freshman year of college. My life used to revolve around running in college. Lately though, running has sort of taken a back seat to my new career goal--medical school. I feel that this balance has benefited me. I had a very mediocre college career. After 13 years of running, I have come to the conclusion that I do not need a coach. No one knows my body better than me. In the process of coaching myself, I feel like I have become a much stronger runner now than in college (and even high school). I shocked myself silly with that marathon. I finally feel like I am back to my old-self (pre-college). I am far from being an elite marathoner (2:56), but I felt it was a good time for me. It is so liberating not having a coach watching and barking out orders to me. What angers me the most about many coaches is the fact that they often cannot explain the purpose of a workout. I realize that there are some educated coaches out there that actually do stay current on the latest exercise physiology research, but most just do not have a clue (especially about injuries). Enough of my soap box. I guess I'm not very coachable. Has anyone else experienced greater success without a coach?