Running in the Dark

This morning I got up at 5:15am to get in a run before heading off to work. I used to run in the mornings all the time, but when Jack was born I fell out of the habit. I wasn’t getting any sleep as it was, so rising before dawn to hoof around Silver Lake Park for six miles seemed slightly insane. Plus, I had a gym membership so I could run at lunchtime and save that extra hour in the morning for fitful sleep between feedings. I still have a gym at work, but I’ve been having a lot of lunch meetings lately so I’ve been contemplating a switch to a morning running schedule, at least for a few days out of the week.

I realized that mother nature wasn’t going to make it easy on me when I stepped out of my building into the darkness at 5:30. A driving rain and heavy winds threatening to wash away my resolve, but I cranked the i-pod and headed out into the night. (I mean, early morning.) The north shore of Long Island is a sleepy place even in the middle of the day, and it is positively spooky in the dark during a storm. There are very few streetlights along my six mile route, so I stuck close to the middle of the road to avoid stepping in a hole or tripping over a branch. Fortunately, I think I saw only one car during the entire run, which was kind of nice, actually. Clearly, morning runs in the dark are not the best venue to set any new pace records. I chugged back into my apartment complex after a 6 miler which took almost 56 minutes. In the dark I felt like I was flying, but I must have been moving more slowly as I felt my way through the darkness.

I think I’ll take it easy tomorrow-maybe a 5 mile tempo run, and rest up for a 15 miler next Wednesday.