Advantages of 5 a.m. Runs

I've always been a morning runner, plain and simple. After about 10 months of evening running, I've switched back to the pre-dawn runs to avoid the Texas heat. Some Many people think I'm crazy for getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning. Most runners I know completely understand. To dispel the potentially insane 'tag' on my reputation, let me spill the advantages of running before the rooster wakes.

1. It's dark. No sun = decent temperatures. In the Texas summers, everyone yearns for decent temps.

2. Traffic is at a bare minimum. I can run in the middle of the road if I like. On some streets I actually have to in order to save my ankles. At 5 a.m., I don't have to zig-zag back and forth to the sidewalk and the road for vehicles.

3. Mark one off the list. It's one less thing on my 'To-Do' list. Done, checked off, all before 6 o'clock in the morning and a cup of coffee.

4. Moonlight. I don't know what it is, there's just something awesome about running with the moon still up.

Training Update #...I've lost track.

Note to self: keeping track of training is difficult, especially when you get in such a routine that logging your workouts seems useless because you're on the same training pattern to keep yourself conditioned. Get up, yoga, work, come home, run and stretch, eat, have some semblance of an evening, go to bed. Repeat 5-6 days a week, do long runs on non-work days, sigh and wonder why you have no time.


Yet, I do have a change in the training news. After 4 days of bitter cold (highly unusual for Texas) weather and suffering the migraine that came with it, I get to run tonight...outdoors! It's almost funny to get this excited over it, just like my kiddos over dessert or something. I truly cannot wait for 5 p.m., just so I can get home to run. I do not own a treadmill, mainly due to space, but I do not like the hamster-in-the-round-cage feeling. Therefore, weather dictates my running plans. Weather determines whether I run outdoors bundled up like a lunatic or I lock myself away for 30 minutes, at least, to do strength training.


Think of me during your evening commute, dinner plans, sitcom watching, or whatever you may be doing this evening. Think of me in thermal layers, running in low 50° weather, striding to the tunes of Chevelle, thankful I get the chance to run.