All this talk about that mile-long hill and new running routes got me inspired to try something new on my 10-miler today.

I’m not yet ready to submit to the mile-long hill (I’ll start tackling that about 10 weeks before the race when my legs are tougher) but what I did do is revisit the scene of much discomfort during the Philly Half Marathon, the evil hill at Lansdowne Ave.

I remember dying during that hill and surprise! it was as annoying as I remembered it to be. It’s .3 of a mile with a 5% grade – not killer but long enough to be a useful addition to my running arsenal. So a new route with a good hill…I’m a happy camper.

Other than that, I did another Pilates DVD yesterday, got a posture book from the library and am becoming obsessive about improving upon it. Lara turned me on to a couple posture tools that I ordered immediately; one is an IMAK backrest and the other is the Disc O’Sit, (a.k.a. a wobble cushion). The wobble cushion is cool because the only way to sit on it is with proper posture, it uses your core muscles just to stay on it, so I’ve a feeling it’s going to be my favorite item. Meanwhile, that ShouldersBack thing should arrive today so it remains to be seen how much torture it’ll inflict.