You could do what I did and sign up for the NY marathon lottery. Murphy's Law would suggest that if I don't train enough, I'll get in and spend from mid-June to the end of October courting injury while trying to ramp up the miles quickly. On the up side, my extra weight will probably fall right off:)

Seriously, though, I'm in the same boat as you. I'm a little out of shape (a lot for this forum; not so much in comparison to society) and have the pounds to show for it. NY is Nov. 1 if I get in, which is not likely. On the off chance that I do and being that I need to run faster than Katie Holmes (I'm willing to settle for slower than Oprah), I'm going to sign up for an August half and see what happens.