Shuffling

It's official. I'm shuffling.

For a long time I've poo-pooed the use of musical devices while running. I'm poo-pooing no more (at least for training runs so far). For my birthday, husband's parents have brought music into my running world with an iPod Shuffle. It is so tiny. Unbelievably small. I can remember in high school running along carrying a big old cassette tape walkman. Many years later, I've got this miniscule device that I can attached to my wasteband and small earbuds that wedge into my ears. So today I shuffled.

I managed to crank out a twelve-miler on a paved non-vehicular trail without traffic (I wouldn't use the iPod anywhere with traffic) with doing the iPod Shuffle in a time less than I've done throughout all my training. It's amazing what a little distraction can do. My husband laughed at me when I put Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield" on the device. Who doesn't pick up his/her pace when hearing "We are strong?"

My current plan: keep cruising along while following a schedule to do another marathon on January 13. If something happens or life intervenes, I won't do the race. If my body feels crappy and unrecovered from the last marathon debacle, I won't do the race. But, if after the holidays, a couple of twenty-milers, and some good weekly runs I feel game, I'll do the race. I'm not signing myself up for anything until the last moment. I'm going to "play it by ear" to the best of my painfully regimented abilities. I can guarantee, for the long runs, I'll be shuffling all the way, mouthing the words to AC/DC's "Back in Black."