My nose thinks it's May

So I guess that buying Bean an 18-24 month snowsuit was a complete FAIL as we did not use it ONCE.  ONCE!  And we actually had a snowblower this year, too!  Seriously--Bug got to go sledding one measly time this year.  He absolutely freaking LOVED it, though.  But now we're replacing our normally craptastic March weather with burgers on the grill, walks in the wagon, my nose running like a nasty faucet, and stuff like this:

Cuz she's a RIDAH.

I even got to do my very first outdoor brick of the season in a short-sleeved jersey and shorts on Sunday!  It was hella windy but so so so sooooooo good to get out on the QR CD0.1.  I freaking love this bike.

I also had another decent run despite the crazy wind.  Snapped this on my way home about 3 miles down the street from where I live:

See it?  That's Cleveland, and also a pretty calm lake for this time of year.  Which really
 makes me want SUMMER NOW.

Swimming has been a bit touch and go lately, since I'm officially in the INSANE part of the school year as we are closing in on the AP Exam.  May 11th is my D-Day, people.  Or, as I like to call it, "The Day I Get My Life Back."  Although, I'm making the best of the little free time I do have now and soaking up the sun and the smiles from my little Bug and Bean.

Running has been sick lately.  I'm not sure what has gotten into me, but my long runs are consistently sub-9 and my nice and easy pace is hovering in the mid-8s.  Today I did 10X1 minute hard and 1 minute easy in the middle of a 40 minute run.  Maybe it was that I knew there were my burgers cooking on the grill at home, or maybe it was the 70 degrees and sun on March 13.  Regardless, I killed that run.  Per Coach Emily, I did 3 at half-marathon pace, 4 at 10K pace, and 3 at 5K pace.   Happy to say that all three of the 5K pushes were either right at or UNDER 7!  One day, I will reach the elusive 6:59/mile for a 5K...one day...

So what's my half marathon pace you may ask?  Well, if you've been reading here for a while you know I like to aim high.  With life being supercrazyinsane lately, I was completely ready to be more conservative and try to break my current PR of 1:47.06.  That's an 8:10/mile pace I set back in 2009.  Really, I was, I swear.  Totally ready to go for an 8:09 and call it done.

But then I started running well.  Really well.  My mileage is not the greatest, but I am doing a decent amount of cross training.  What to do, what to do....oh, come on now, you know how this ends, right?

Right.

I decided to suck it up, cupcake, and HTFU.  So I will be lining up with the 3:25 marathon pace group, which will have me aiming for approximately a 1:42.30.  Bring it.

Go hard or go home, suckas.