8.09.2012

I Ran 10 Miles before 7:15 AM (and want to talk at length about it)

I love to sleep - a lot: normally nine hours (yes NINE) a night.  Maybe it was having kids that made me relish every sweet second all the more... But, when I think about it, I've always gravitated towards going to bed around 10:30pm.  And when the kids were babies up at all hours of the night, I'd go to bed at 8pm if it meant getting eight or more hours of sleep, albeit interrupted. 

So, it was a rather big thing for me to set my alarm for 4:45am to get a long run done this morning.  Sure, I'll lose sleep for a race, a trip, a night out, etc.  But this was the first time I chose to get up at such a ridiculous hour even though I have alternatives.  I could get up around 7am on the weekends to get in a long run; but I relish our family time and my little time to 'sleep in.'  And, certainly my husband can take the kids during the day so I can run; he does that quite a bit, too. However, much of the time I don't want to miss out on what they're up to! 

I got out the door by 5:20am and chose to take a short drive to the downtown business area/lakefront path in our town because it's nice and busy with commuters, coffee shops that were gearing up to open, and it's a relatively flat run.  I had to do and out and back TWICE, but it felt busy, safe and familiar.  I wasn't the only one with this idea, I passed woman after woman getting out there and gettin' it done.  It was pretty cool to nod at all of these crazy people with the same affliction of actually enjoying running.  I even ran into a fellow bootcamp mama!


5:38am start time, sheeesh


Now, I don't plan to do a 10+ miler every time I get up at the crack of dawn since I only got about 6 hours of sleep (eegads!), and we all know how important good sleep is for running.  But, it's nice to know it's an option that 1) didn't make me want to die 2) I could keep the right pace and not feel rushed by the ticking clock of the Y daycare and 3) it sure felt nice having it done for the day!

Not too bad of a view either...




3 comments:

  1. Love this idea! I rely on the gym so much, but I should consider weekday early runs. I always do a Saturday early long run, but I need to mix it up. Much better scenery than the indoor track.

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    1. omg, indoor track?? even with the attached tv on the treadmill, I can only handle about 7 or so inside and then I'm checked out. dunzo. stick a hot poker in my eye.

      btw, hope the papa john's code worked for you ;) it did for us! mmmmm..

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  2. Nice morning run! I also did a morning run this week and never do, although I only had to get up at 5:30 so not as bad. Good for us getting out of bed...

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