Snow 9, Weathermen 3

The actual inches vs the predicted inches on Monday...

So much to write about with the 'solo' weekend while Beth was in Tucson--I'll have to get to that eventually.

Back to Monday:

The problem with the snow (it ended up being about 9 inches) was the roads really didn't get treated before it started (3pm) because it arrived about 2 or 3 hours before they thought it would. On top of that, PennDOT then had to scramble and bring in a lot of workers (since it was President's Day holiday and a lot were off). By then, it was too late. There was 2 or 3 inches of snow on all of the roads at the height of rush hour. Cars parked on the road or on the sides of roads. Snow continuing to fall until 10pm at a rate of about 1 inch per hour. Disaster all around that made my trip home three hours.

But, I got home in one piece and the neighbor checked in on Roxy. So, all was well.

As this was unfolding, Beth's flight (supposed to land around midnight) got rerouted to Detroit because Pittsburgh had to close down the runways for a bit because they couldn't keep up with the snow. Since Detroit was 'close' they ended up letting the plane refuel and continue to Pittsburgh. She got to the airport around 2 or 2:30am. By the time she dug out her car and got home (roads still had a layer of snow on them) it was 4:30am.

We ended up having school cancelled today. It was good because I was able to catch up on sleep because I was up until midnight trying to figure out where Beth's flight was going and if she needed to get a hotel by the Detroit airport.

Another bullet blog will be saved for another day to update training, college hoops, spring training, family get-togethers, and all the boring thrilling details (yeah right) during my "what I did on my solo weekend."

Bullet Blog

After my 18-day blog streak in January, things have seemed to slow down here in February. Oh wait, I haven't written a blog YET in February. Oops! Here's some catching up:

*Most of the time has been working with the track teams. The district championship is this upcoming weekend. Looking forward to seeing great performances and increase the number of athletes qualifying for the indoor state meet.

*Running has been going well. The run Thursday was COLD, windchill below zero. I found that wearing socks OVER your gloves does a good job keeping the hands warm. If only I had kept my Steelers' playoff beard - the chin and jawline were a little raw by the end. Today's 17-miler capped off a 46-mile week. Earlier in the week, I had a 9 mile run with 4 miles at 6:10 pace. That hurt, but I can feel that I'm getting stronger. I was able to hold 7:30 pace for the 17 miles today. I may be racing in a few weekends, so we'll see if this fitness translates to the race.

*Also on the running front, the teachers from my school and the alumni group from Elizabethtown College are moving along with their training. This is the toughest time to motivate non-veteran runners, but I just keep trying to push them on so they can reach their goals on race days.

*Our Etown alumni group also picked up a sponsor for race day. Alumnus Sarah Lanphier started a granola mix company called Nuts About Granola and stepped up to support our group with a goodie bag. I asked Sarah about possibly connecting with Beth about the granola and it looks like they're setting up a partnership, too. Beth reviewed the granola HERE and it's good stuff!

*Past halfway to my fundraising goal for the Alzheimer's Association. Thanks again to all who have donated and shared stories! If you feel moved to do so, you can provide a donation online HERE.

*Beth's heading to Tucson this week with some training partners to get out of this snow and get some legitimate outdoor training, especially on the bike. Thanks again to Jen & Jerome for providing the lodging. It'll be Roxy and I holding down the fort, so hopefully we don't get into too much trouble. My weekend already has the all-day track meet Saturday and a family birthday party Sunday afternoon.

*On the college basketball front, Arizona's creeping up in the polls (16th last week) and is in 1st place in the weak Pac-10. Things are looking good for their tournament chances this year. Davidson is starting to come around. While they still have a sub-.500 conference record at 7-8, they be a couple of the conference leaders over the last few weeks and might just be putting it together at the right time for a SoCon tourney run. Penn State lost three in a row before a 24-point win against Northwestern today. The Nittany Lions are probably on the outside looking in if the tournament started today, but they've still got a handful of games agains ranked opponents plus the Big Ten tournament to improve their resume.

*The Steelers gave a good effort in the Super Bowl, but had too many turnovers at the wrong times. And, credit Green Bay for turning all three TO's into touchdowns. There's always next year I guess (like I said back in October of 1992 with the Pirates...)

*Speaking of Pirates, spring training starts Monday. Woo-hoo!

*Beth's new triathlon team, Ballou Skies, had a photoshoot this week at photo studio that used to be a firehouse and now currently doubles as the Roberto Clemente Museum. Lots of great photos and stories from there, but that'll have to be another post.