Pleasant surprises are always welcome!

I woke up this Saturday morning pretty early for my long run, but not soon after my alarm rang, I got an email from my running group that our run was canceled due to the storms and heavy rain in the area. Wha? Sure enough, it was pouring outside and the radar was all lit up with rain. Well, the storms never really materialized, but the rain came down all. day. long. The snow was melting since it was close to 55F at 5:30 a.m.! I figured I'd be better off rescheduling my run for Sunday. Anything to stay away from the treadmill.

I've been stressing lately about booking my flight for my half-marathon in Florida this coming February. With my hotel and race registration fee taken care of, I was gambling to see if the price of the flight would go down after the holiday's. A month after I initially checked on it, it had gone up in price by about $50. Should I wait until January? Book now?

Well, after going through my credit card charges after all of the holiday hoopla, I accidentally stumbled upon the website listing my reward points for my card. On a whim, and in a why-the-hell-not sort of manner, I checked to see if it was enough to pay for a plane ticket.

Lo and behold it was! What a pleasant surprise.

Enough for a round trip fare anywhere in the inner 48 states!

So it is done. Half marathon registration: check. Hotel: check. Flight: check. Am I ready?: to be determined :)

I'll be leaving early Friday, Feb. 6th. I'll enjoy the expo and relax at the hotel on Saturday, and then race on Sunday! Fortunately, I'm staying at the host hotel, and the race is a shuttle ride away- no need for a car. With the race starting at 6:45 a.m., I should be good to fly out around the noon hour.



If anything, this serves as a little more motivation to get out there and train to get ready for sunny Florida come February 8.

Anything helps at this point!