Week 11 finished, week 1 to come...huh?

I know, the title doesn't make sense. 11 weeks done and week #1 to come? I've decided to not run the Honolulu Marathon, but to run the New Orleans marathon instead. The N.O. marathon is February 5th, 2006. Why the change?? The Honolulu Marathon is scheduled for December 11th. That is the same weekend that the group that I sing with, Oakland East Bay Gay Men's Chorus has their holiday concerts. When I first found this out, I was upset. The last holiday concert was done on the first weekend of December, and I thought that it would be the same this year. But other schedule conflicts created the move to the second weekend. In order to do everything, I asked the training program director if I could move to the New Orleans training, and the answer was yes. So, all of the funds that I have raised so far will be transferred over and I have a new fundraising deadline of early November.
One issue that I face is the training doesn't start until September 10th. On September 10th I'm scheduled to run 18 miles. So I need to figure out when I'm going to move over to the New Orleans training schedule. I hate to start with a long run of 3 miles (especially since my weekday runs are no less than 5 miles) but I don't want to be running 20-milers a few months before the marathon.
So what it comes down to is that I'll have an additional two months of running behind me before running the marathon. I'm anxious to run a marathon, but another 1/2 marathon will have to suffice. I'm running in the Lake Tahoe 1/2 Marathon, October 8th. I'll be there for a wedding, so I decided, why not run a race!?!
Btw, 7 miles Saturday. We ran a little fast so we secretly added another 1/2 mile before heading to the finish line. Shhh, don't tell our coach! :) Next Saturday = 16 miles!!