This House is a Circus

After a week of mild temps, winter was back today as a Nor'easter dumped a bunch of snow on us. School was cancelled and I worked from home to avoid the messy road conditions. We only ended up getting about 8 to 10 inches, but there was much more north and west of us. The girls had fun playing inside for much of the morning before we went outside to shovel out around noon. They played with a pair of sisters who live a few doors down and go to Hannah's school.

The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow. Deb and I went out for dinner Friday night while Deb's mom watched the girls. We were served so quickly we ended up going to another establishment for a few drinks before coming home. Saturday, I ran 12 miles in the morning with my running buddy Molly before we took the girls to Barnes and Noble to spend the gift cards they got for Christmas. Then we hit the supermarket, which was totally slammed with shoppers stocking up for the Pats-Jaguars game and the anticipated Monday storm. It was a total zoo; the lines of carriages at the cash registers wound their way through the store. The game was great, with Tom Brady nearly perfect as the Pats fought off a determined Jags squad to advance to the AFC championship game. Then I stayed up to watch the Leafs blow another one to San Jose; they led 2-0 after two periods and then lost 3-2. Looks like heads will roll this week.

Yesterday was pretty chill. Lily didn't feel too good and spent much of the afternoon on the couch on top of Deb. I went to the gym and then the office to pick up some work for today.

Week 1 of my spring marathon training starts tomorrow with what looks to be a 6-mile tempo run on the treadmill. Not ideal, but I don't expect there be a lot of room on those Marblehead streets tomorrow. Then I have speedwork on Thursday and a 13-miler Saturday. Ah, the sled dog days of January...

Kibbles and blurbs:

• The IAAF ruled that a double amputee sprinter was ineligible to compete in the Beijing Olympics because the prosthetic legs he uses give him an unfair advantage. Oscar Pistorius (cool name alert) plans to appeal the decision, but the IAAF cited studies that showed that the curved blades he used helped Pistorius exert himself less in races than able-bodied runners he competed against.
• Check out this ridiculous hockey brawl from the Russian Superleague (courtesy of Dump Dolan). Apparently, they don't suspend guys for going over the bench. That was like the NHL in the '70s before they started cracking down on the bench-clearing stuff. Apparently the Russian broadcasters on big on the whole, you know, broadcasting thing. Not a word is uttered during the entire clip.