Hi I am a 54 yrs old male runner who has been a serious runner for the last 6 years.  I have done 8 marathons and a bunch of halfs.  I have over the last year a problem with my  right leg and foot which I thought was a hamstring  pull and got PT for and kept running.  PT never did figure way was wrong with my leg and so just stop going to them.

After my last marathon in Oct 2008 I decide to stop running for  4-5 weeks off to see if I could help heal  my leg like so many people suggested and I ignored until then because I ran about 30sec slower even in the marathon.   My pace has slowed by 30 -50 sec and since the lay-off I have put about 10 lbs back on which has been a pain to get off.  I am training for a April marathon.

Questions:

1. Is typical to loss performance after a lay off for a boomer?

2. The leg still hurts and I have been stretching and working out to see if it a over use problem. Any suggestion for hamstrings?

3. So I know lose the weight and I will but what should I expect for performance?  I have a personal goal of break the 3:30 wall in a marathon.  Is getting older lessing my chances of getting to my goal. 

Thanks in advance

Ray