In practice for the "big day," today I started running without my Ipod.  It was a very free feeling, leaving my house with nothing strapped to my arm or my ears, and no fuel belt since today was a shorter run. I didn't have high hopes, because I'm one of those runners who really relies on the music to motivate me. 

I don't like the USATF rule banning music players on marathon courses.  I think if you're listening to your Ipod so loudly that you can't hear passersby or traffic or sirens, maybe your volume is a little high.  Just a thought.  But a rule's a rule, so I follow it. 

I was nicely surprised by my music-free run today.  I tried to focus on the sounds around me and the sounds of my body.  The faster my feet go, the faster I breathe, and vice versa, but they always go together.  It makes for a nice beat when you don't have any other "music."  The birds are singing like crazy and I heard a frog jump into a pond.  I heard and saw farmers plowing fields and noticed things I may not have if I had been "plugged in" to my pod. 

So I'm trying to approach the separation from my Ipod in a glass half full sort of way.  But today was only 5 miles; we'll see how happy I am after 20 on Saturday with no tunes!!