18 weeks to marathon day.

What? Marathon? The Happy Runner? Huh?!?

That's right, folks! I'm running a marathon. No, not now. It's in 18 weeks. Ha!

Readers of this blog may recall that for a while I've said I plan to run another marathon in 2010. For several reasons, I felt that a 2009 marathon was out of the question. But, best laid schemes o' mice an' men and all that and, well, here I am with an open schedule. Perfect for a spring marathon.

My sights are set on the New Jersey Marathon on May 3rd. That's 18 weeks away, which should give me plenty of time to pick up the pace and train wisely and well. And I hope I do because I would like to post a good time. I ran my first -- and only -- marathon in 4 hours and 12 minutes. I would love to break 4 hours for this marathon. I put several of my recent race times into the McMillan Running Calculator and based on the results, I think sub-4 is doable for me (the calculator says I should be able to run 3:47 but -- ha, ha, ha -- I think the calculator has me confused with someone faster and younger!).

So, there you have it. My big plans! I hope to run a few other races this spring, including the Running of the Green (Island) 4-miler on March 7th and the Freihofer's Run for Women on May 30th. Other than that, I'm going to take it as it comes and not try to plan too much. Training for a marathon will be a lot for me. I know I have the drive and dedication to train, I just hope my creaky body and young toddler cooperate!

Anyone else planning to run the NJ Marathon? Let me know!

Check!

A lot on my to-do list today:

1. Last minute shopping . . . check!
2. Wrap gifts . . . check!
3. Consume multiple (bite size) Heath bars while scrambling to meet a deadline as screaming, teething toddler refuses to play independently . . . check!
4. Consider crying when toddler drops and breaks some fine china but decide that, since you are on the phone with a client, that would be utterly unprofessional . . . check!
   
5. Drink twice the normal amount of coffee because being over-sugared just isn't enough . . . check!
6. Go online and realize that there are many crazy people out there . . . check!
7. Fear that you are probably one of them . . . check!
8. Decide that #7 (above) is not necessarily true but simply a result of being off-the-wall due to #5 (above) . . . check!
9. Shake head and note that the repetitive use of (above) in to-do list more than likely confirms that #7 (above) is indeed true, regardless of feeble attempt in #8 (above) to justify actions . . . check!
10. Make dinner that toddler, described in #3 (above), refuses to eat . . . check!
    
11. Determine that a big dish of Peanut Butter Pandemonium premium (i.e., full-on full-fat) ice cream is the answer to whatever the question was . . . check!

Yup, I checked it all off my list! I'm really getting things done around here.

And, if you were wondering, the PBP was the right answer. As ice cream often is.

Happy winter!

So here I am in upstate New York on the shortest day of the year. Also the snowiest. Or what I hope will be proven to have been the snowiest because I doubt I can handle any days snowier than today.

That's not really fair; it was really the snowiest weekend. The snow in question actually started on Friday around noon and continued more or less non-stop (maybe it stopped while I was sleeping but how can I know for sure?) until this evening. I felt like I was living in a snow globe that some monster person was continuously shaking to keep the snow from ever settling. Really. This snow was out of hand. Out of hand enough to make me think of monster people, in fact.

Anyway, out of hand snow aside, I have such a great feeling today. It's the shortest day of the year! That means every day from today until that far off day in June will get progressively longer. Sure, we're buried in a foot of snow but the days are getting longer!

It's the simple things around here, the simple things.

Happy winter!

TGIF Photo Friday!

I finally got around to participating in Photo Friday over at Adventure Seeker.

I could have taken a photo of the snow that is falling so quickly all around. But it's just such a gray, blah snowy day. So, instead of snow, I bring you a photo of my little guy.

Enjoy, stay warm and be careful out there on the roads.

I want YOU to have a great weekend!