Spring Fever!

Okay, okay, I know that January is probably too early to have spring fever, but let me present my case:

This Saturday, I work up early in the morning, as I usually do, to go meet my running club. Then I looked at weather.com. 1 degree.

Well that is just about 9 degrees below my threshold. As I headed to the gym to hit up the treadmill instead, I started dreaming of the Spring thaw.

On Sunday, I went off for a long run with my friend Christine and after feeling pain in my leg from constant battling with snow (and recovering from an unrelated but important to mention frightening run in with a pitbull) I again longed for warmer weather.

On Tuesday, I tripped over a tree root in the midst of snow and slush and ate pavement in front of my running group...ah, Spring...are you almost here?!

Part of the difficulty of marathon training is the monotony of discipline. But part of the fun is signing up for races to get you ready. When you are training for a marathon in the winter, the joy is found in signing up for Spring races to keep you dreaming of better running days ahead. So, without much further ado, here are some of the races in my future that are keeping me in joyful anticipation...

After unsuccessfully (AGAIN!) trying to coordinate a New York/New Jersey trip, my friend Traci proposed the idea of a double race weekend and a chance to visit with her and her family. Sold! I will be running a 5K in Providence, RI (http://www.stpats5k.com/) on Saturday, March 19th and a half marathon in Quincy, MA on March 20th (http://halfofquincy.com/). Two-for-one!

Earlier in the year, my friend Chrissy and I signed up to do the Gristmill Grinder (http://www.gristmillgrinder.com/), a 1/2 marathon trail run in West Virginia in April, and I couldn't be more excited. The course looks absolutely beautiful. I'm sure I'll encounter more tree roots there but at least without the snow and slush I should be able to see them!

For all you supporters of 50 in 50 on Kiva, that means 3 new states coming up between now and April...maybe spread out the support and donate each month starting in February?

After the Pittsburgh marathon (May 15), I'll be heading out to Alaska in July to (hopefully!) try my hand at what might be the craziest race ever (http://www.seward.com/news-events/marathon/marathon.htm)- but that is up to fate as I could only enter the lottery and hope.

Now all I have to do is make it through winter training alive...!

***Thanks for your continual support!***