I rather enjoyed my run this morning for two reasons … first, a new course. I got in 10 miles like normal for a Tuesday, but made it a pretty hilly course with 3 decent inclines that stretch for over a mile so I can better prepare for the upcoming Baltimore marathon. I found though that that course I chose was quite dark .. I mean dark in the sense that at 5:25am, when its dark outside in general and you’re counting on the moonlight to help you find your way, running a back road that has trees overhanging the road, doesn’t help that effort. It just made it really dark. Thankfully it was only a 1/2 mile stretch of the road and the moonlight soon returned. It probably didn’t help that I picked a new course to run while in the dark, but at this time of year, I don’t have much of a choice.

The second thing that caused me to enjoy my run today was a change in music .. I loaded some music that I had stored on a flash drive somewhere that I hadn’t listened to in quite some time. It was really a welcome change .. I actually enjoyed the run (although my legs are quite smoked from the hills).

Speaking of music, I received the official Baltimore Marathon handbook stating that headphones and mp3 players are not allowed on the course. Thats pretty typical these days .. but it prompted me to check the official forum for the marathon to get some clarification, where I found this post discussing ipods on the course. I’m not going to get into the debate about whether they are a good or bad idea in a race, but from what i’m seeing, they’re not going to disqualify you from THIS race if you have one .. but we’ll still play it safe I guess.

So its back to a normal GA run tomorrow of about 12 miles .. the weather is supposed to stay warm in the mornings in comparison to last week and over the weekend when it was downright cold. The warmer weather sure makes it easier to get up and get moving …

Thats about it. Off to rest for tomorrow.