My running season is about to begin next weekend at the 30th Annual Get in Gear 10K in Minneapolis. I’ve basically done nothing but sit on my butt since last fall’s Twin City Marathon and I’ve got an extra ten pounds to prove it. That needs to change, so now I’m much more motivated to run. Plus it’s warm out–I’m definitely a fair weather runner.

I’m very conflicted about which races to run this year, however. Grandma’s Marathon has decided to ban headphones in all of their races this year as part of the USATF rules for certified races. I don’t agree with this policy and won’t run there again unless the policy changes. Here is what I wrote to them today:

To whom it may concern:

My name is David Kingsbury and I have completed four Grandma’s Marathon races over the past ten years. I love the race and the support given by the City of Duluth and its residents. It has been the highlight of my running year each time I have entered. It saddens me, however, to see that you have decided to enforce the no headphones rule this year. With products such as the iPod+Nike device, these items are not only helpful training tools, they can give useful in-run statistics such as pace and distance remaining.

I have never personally seen an instance where someone around me wearing headphones endangered my run. I believe that these tools help people train more often before a race and can help inspire those running to finish stronger during the race.

My guess is that this decision was forced on you by the USATF in order to be a certified race. Grandma’s has a reputation for being one of the elite races, but I hope you do not lose sight of the “everyday Joe” runners who run for fun, not records. I was surprised to see your field was not full yet, but I’m guessing a lot of average runners like me have decided to stay away.

I hope you will reconsider for the 2008 event.

It looks like TCM is threatening to do the same (that has always been their policy, but they never actually disqualified anyone). So it looks like I will just run the Get in Gear and the Heart of the City Half Marathon June 2 in Burnsville.

My brother let me know he plans to run the 2008 Walt Disney World Goofy Races in Orlando next January. This is the one where you get to run the half on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday. I thought of maybe joining him, but the field of 3,000 is already full.