For the first time in quite awhile, I didn’t wake up for my run before my alarm went off .. so at 4:55am today, I was woken by the alarm and was quite a bit groggy. I had 12 miles on the plan for today and did get it in, but it was really a rough start so it didn’t feel like it was going to be a good day. So after I got up and got moving and dressed, I headed downstairs to get my coffee ready when the coffee maker was all goofed up. I have one of these models with the timer and all, but it counts on the lid to the carafe be closed perfectly. Its an issue because my wife broke it a few weeks back, so the coffee was all jammed up in the filter basket. After freeing it, the coffee came out but was full of grounds … well, we drank it anyway, so this already set me behind.

Next, I grab my headphones and they were all tangled up .. I mean tangled up. I’m not sure if there is some kind of headphone fairy that comes at night and wraps these things up in every other direction each night because I use them everyday .. and they’re never tangled when I put them down after a run, but when I grab them, they’re always tangled again.. its irritating.

Lastly, my stomach started to get upset as I was putting my shoes on.. I’m not sure if it was the spaghetti I had last night or what, but after doing what I could to make it better, I decided to finally head out and get this run going .. Note that at this point, I’m already 8 minutes behind the time I SHOULD have headed out at to get 12 miles in before work, so it was going to be a rush job to get home, get showered, and head out the door for work.

So in comparison with Tuesday, the temperature was warmer (mid 50’s, but it did drop) .. and todays course was not as hilly as yesterday. I’ve been doing much better on the hills since I started the hill work and the speed work, so i’m hopeful that the Baltimore Marathon won’t be a struggle with the inclines now.. All I can say is that the hills beat me in the last marathon because I remember at mile 20, when I SAW the hill, it took my breath away, so that won’t happen twice.

The Baltimore Marathon folks have a really neat website setup that they call their social media page. It seems really plugged in with the race, so you can text, twitter or actually watch the race from this website. Note that my blog is included as a Baltimore Marathon blog since I write so much about it (Thanks Dave!)

So another speed run tomorrow, then a 14 miler on Saturday and hills on Sunday as we head into the taper for Baltimore.. I’m starting to get excited again! I can’t wait, I just hope the weather holds out, its supposed to get COLD in the northeast the next couple days …