Early Morning Run

Last February I made a major change to my schedule. I started waking up at 5:30. In the morning.

Why? I hear you ask. Are you completely crazy?

Well, the original idea was that I would get the running out of the way early, before the boys were awake, and then I would have time to do the other things that are still gradually eating up my life.

I kept the routine up during the summer, more or less, and it's been working great. The only problem is that now it's still very very dark at 5:30. As in not-even-dawn. I am finding it harder and harder to drag myself out of bed and wake up to run.

So I've postponed a couple of runs to later in the day when the boys are all in school. 8:30am.

But because the weather is still warm, and there is no ice or snow, I have been running outside.

I ran a trail the other day for the first time in a year. I was doing great, using an iPhone for my music and to track my runs. I reached the end of the trail, the 3 mile point where I stopped to tie my shoe before turning back. And the phone rang.

It was the school nurse, saying Nick was complaining about his ear.

There I was, covered in sweat, standing in the woods, three miles from my car. Of course this is when my kid would need to get picked up.