Beginning Again

My main running goal for 2012 is to run the Dublin City Marathon in less than 4 hours. It takes place on the 29th October. That gives me 47 weeks (I only counted once, so it might be 46 or 48). I am deliberately starting this early because I want to build time and miles on my legs.
This is my second marathon. I did Cork in June 2011 in 4hours 22 minutes.
I am still doing a lot of reading and studying, not least because I have received a gift of a Garmin Forerunner with heart monitor for Christmas, and I am trying to figure how best to use it. I am still in 'play' mode with that, understanding paces and now, in the last week or so, heart rates.
So, what can I say about my plans for now. I am committing myself for the next 4 weeks to 5 days running, 1 day of rest and 1 day of cross-training/running. I have been influenced most by my reading of the Diary of Rubbish Marathon Runner, who blogs also on blogspot, he seems to have trained well on longer, moderate intensity runs. He was trained by a Mystery Coach and the training seems to follow the Arthury Lydiard method. As the days get brighter, I may try to run 6 days, but I am not sure how practicable that is if I also want to keep work/personal life balanced. I don't have children, but I do have a partner, a full-time job, extended family and friends and ... still can't believe this ... a cat.
I blogged my way through the first marathon because it was a charity effort and raised awareness for the charity. More about that another time. This coming marathon is not for charity. The blogging also worked as a kind of diary and in the Autumn months, when struggling to run, it even acted as an incentive for getting out there again. I like writing and found it a useful and enjoyable exercise. This time, I will probably be more technical in my approach.
Let's summarise then.
Main event: Dublin City Marathon 2012 in sub 4 hours.
Other events in order of priority: Clonakilty Half Marathon 2012 in December; Bantry Bay Half Marathon in May.
Since resuming training in January I have completed:
Week 1 21 miles with hillwalk;
Week 2 23 miles with hillwalk (tomorrow, hopefully).

My plan for the coming week is:
Week 3: Do MHR test on Monday, followed by 2 miles. Do Evaluation on  Tuesday (Steady over 4 miles) with w/u and c/d. Wednesday - Saturday: tbd.