What a great day for

a run. This morning I got up at 5:15 to head out for my scheduled ten mile run. I got about halfway to the starting point and realized that I had forgotten my earbuds for my i-Pod. I thought briefly about turning around and going back for them, but then realized that if I did it would be about ten degrees warmer by the time I started running. So I talked myself into running without tunes.
I was suprisingly happy during today's run despite not having any music to run to. The weather was nice, sunny but cool, there were quite a few other early runners out, and the new shoes were fantastic. I didn't miss the old shoes one bit. (See how quickly my loyalties turn?) The lack of music gave me a great opportunity to focus on improving my speed. I ran the same course that I ran last week 45 seconds per mile faster than I ran it last week. I'm telling myself that I'm actually getting faster, but I'm sure it's just a function of having a slightly lighter week distance wise last week.
I finished the ten miles in 92 minutes, which works out to about a 9:12/mile pace. The only thing that I was a little concerned about this morning was the fact that we had two major storm systems roll through the St. Louis area on Wednesday and Friday of last week, so there were a lot of trees and other debris on the sidewalks that still needed to be cleared. So it was probably good I ran without music, as I was totally focused on not twisting my ankle.
Tonight I'm supposed to go to a "home spa party"...we'll see if it's any fun.