Eleven Days and Counting

When I am getting ready for work every morning I have a ritual of sorts that I complete. While I am eating my breakfast, I always check two very important internet sites. 

First, I check the MTA site because I need to know if there are any subway delays which would alter how I spend the rest of my time before leaving for work. 

Second, I check the local weather. I start with looking at the hourly report and then finally I look at the 10 day forecast. This morning I saw this and said, "Say It Ain't So!":

This snow/rain/wind stuff didn't make me very happy. I almost put on my grouchy pants, but was good and left them in the drawer. Or at least I thought they were in the drawer because I actually think they may have been in use by Mr. B this morning.

While I don't think the snow will amount to much of anything here in Queens, and I can certainly turn my morning runs into lunch time treadmill runs, it makes me concerned about the trails up at Rockefeller State Park Preserve. The trails are 35-40 minutes north of NYC and when our snow has disappeared in the past, Mr. B and I have driven up there for our Sunday long run to find snow or ice covering the trails making a run impossible.

We have been really lucky with the past two Sunday's (last week the trails were finally clear of all ice) and I am hoping that luck will hold out for this Sunday, because I have one last long run to complete before I run this:

That's right. My first half-marathon of 2013 is in less than 11 days! I have finally gotten excited about it due to the last couple weeks of successful training. I first wasn't sure if I would be totally prepared for this race, but now I know I can handle it.

And speaking of half marathons, I actually have two more on the books. Four weeks after my St. Patty's Day race, on April 14th I will be participating in:

I registered for this race back in 2009, but did not compete. I am really looking forward to participating this year.

Then two weeks later on April 28, Mr. B and I will be heading to DC to participate in this little inaugural race:

I entered the lottery for this race back in December and formed a little team which included Mr. B and my niece. Thank heavens we were accepted because my niece would have been severely disappointed. This is her first half marathon race ever! I can't wait to share this day with my two loves!

At times I still can't believe I will be running three half marathon races over a 6 week period! I have never done that before and I am still hunting down more races for the rest of the year. I am determined to get a Sub-2 hour half marathon this year!