how many days does it take?

8 apparently. that is how many days it takes from one marathon for me to sign up for another. i am now registered to run the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, California in february. with my dear friend kristen who will be running her first half. (and possibly amy and a few other colorado folks looking for a good time). i blame the snow. yes the snow. it snowed on saturday for the first time this season. not much. maybe half an inch but it was cold. about 26 when i went out running. there was black ice on the sidewalks. and my right contact froze to my eye. but it was still fun. and i remembered why i like running in the winter even as i was freezing parts of my arse off. or just my fingers. and then this morning. woke up to about 2 inches of wet snow. not on the roads or sidewalks as spencer astutely observed but on the cars, the grass, and the trees. yes the trees. the ones covered with lovely fall leaves in every shade of red, orange, yellow and brown. some even green. covered in snow. i love snow. it was gorgeous. just odd to see. a confirmed case of seasonal confusion disorder. my favorite thing to see was a car covered in snow that then had a pile of leaves that had fallen on top of the snow. there is something about the absurdity of it that is intriguing to me. i love it. anyhow. this may be the reason i registered. or maybe it was just an excuse. or the tipping point. i thrive on goals. i like to have boxes to color in yellow. and the shallow but honest part of me would prefer to not get fat over the winter. plus i would really like to have that coveted surfboard medal. i mean let's be realistic. how cool is that. it's a medal shaped like a surfboard. yeah i'll run another 26.2 miles for that. and in february when things are rather bleak here in the tundra. doesn't really seem like it was such a bad idea after all. now about that training through the plummeting temperature thing in the artic north thing...