Could someone PLEASE TURN OFF the snow machine?!?

It has been snowing for 32 of the last 36 hours. We got a break this afternoon (hallelujah!), but when I came out of the gym tonight, there they were again, sparkling frozen flakes dancing through the red light of the streetlamps.

I had another lackluster run at the indoor track today, 2 miles in 23:50 or so for a truly horrifying 11:55 pace (considering I ran the whole way and did not walk). I did find out how long the running lanes at the track are, or at least the length of the specific lane I use--it's 6.4 laps to a mile, so I ran 13 laps and called that 2 miles.

I'm very disappointed with how slowly I've been running over the last few weeks. I seemed to be doing a lot better with my old workout plan that called for three interval runs a week, two days of strength training, and weekends off. Of course, it's probably a lot easier to run faster when your total weekly volume is only 8-10 miles, you're never out for more than 45 minutes at a time, and you never have to really run for more than 5-10 minutes at a time without a recovery period (I did 4/2, 3/1, and 5/2 intervals). I guess there's just not enough base there to train for a longer race.

Our Team in Training schedule has us running 5 days a week, and I'm doing strength training the other two, so I basically have no true rest days. I've found the steady-state running (i.e., running the mileage straight through without stopping for recoveries) to be surprisingly tough, and the temperature inside the gym (borderline stifling, IMO) isn't doing me any favors either. But the sad stinging truth is that my fitness level simply isn't what I thought (or hoped) it was. It's hard for me to accept that, but I will just have to take it in stride and work with what I've got, not what I wish I had or thought I had.

I've been reading and enjoying Marathoning for Mortals by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield, and John Bingham says his marathon strategy is to "finish the same day that I start." In that vein, I think I need to make a new set of goals for my half marathon. The A-B-C goal system is a series of three goals, each progressively more challenging. The thought is you'll be happy if you meet your A goal, happier if you meet your B goal, and ecstatic if you meet your C goal. So here is a set of what I now believe are realistic A-B-C goals for my half:
A. Finish.
B. Finish in an upright position, preferably without crippling injuries.
C. Finish strong in an upright position with a huge smile for the race photographer's camera.

Any and all time goals are flying out the window in 3...2...1...*sound of shattering glass*.

But that's okay. I'll get there. All I have to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other. I'll close with more encouraging words from John Bingham: "The miracle isn't that I finished, it's that I had the courage to start."