A sub-3 marathon will now most likely pass me by. I got close, 3:05, but this was 5 years ago. i'm now the wrong side of 50 and whilst I am still full of energy I am hampered by niggles brough on by tight muscles. A more realistic goal is to complete the majors....I just have Tokyo to go on...
A guy I know has a similar-ish story about playing for St Pauli. He was at uni in Hamburg and played for the 4th team which was basically a student team. The first team had a cup game and were fielding their reserves but had an injury crisis and had to look further down the pecking to the 3rd...