Running in the Dark

Although I got a short run in yesterday, I wanted to run this morning. I planned to get up early so I could be home by 6:30am to help out with the kids.

I set the alarm for 5:15am. For some reason, I woke up at 5am. This happened to me frequently while I was training for the marathon - it was like my body knew the alarm was going to go off shortly so I got up anyway.

Of course I contemplated going back to sleep. But then I remembered how wonderful the weather has been early in the morning and I did not want to miss my chance.

I was outside by 5:30am. It was dark. It wasn't as crisp as some of the previous mornings were, but it was definitely comfortable. The skies were overcast so no stars were shining. Just me, the streetlights and the other crazy runners out there (before I left my neighborhood I crossed paths with 4 other runners!).

The theme of today's run was S-L-O-W. I tried to hit the breaks whenever I saw my heart rate going into the 150s. Again, it worked for the first 2 or 3 miles and after that my body just found its pace and stayed with it. Overall the run was 5.5 miles in 59:22 (10:47/mile pace) - 149 average HR, 163 max HR.

I took my iPod with me this morning. I normally don't listen to music while running in the dark, but for some reason I took it with me. My run started out with REM's Superman, and included some songs by Phil Collins, Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, Daughtry and others.