How Do You Feel About Early Morning Runs?

Summertime is here in the Ohio Valley, and one of its hallmarks is the combination of heat and humidity.  This prompted me to go for a morning run yesterday, and I got quite the surprise.  When I arrived at the park, it was nearly deserted, but by the time I got done, the place was hopping with people out for their morning runs as well.  I counted 36 cars as I was leaving.

Going for a morning run adds a bit of work to my routine, since I end up doing it on my way to work.  Hence my surprise to find so many cars and bodies out at the same place to run in the morning.  I’m not one of those people who can hop right out of bed, lace on my shoes, and run out my door, so maybe that contributes to my surprise.

My workday generally starts around 7am, so for me to have a prayer of getting in a morning run, there’s some planning involved.  I have to lay out my running clothes the night before and pack my work clothes.  Setting my alarm for 5am usually gets me up by 5:05, maybe 5:10 if I’m feeling sluggish.  Conventional wisdom says we should have something on our stomachs before a run, so toss in a 1/2 cup of cereal to serve that purpose.  Add in a glass of water and coffee for hydration and wakefulness, and now I’m ready to wait a half hour before I can even take a crack at running without making myself sick.

I suppose its fortunate that I live about a 15-minute drive from the park where I do my morning runs, since that eats up some of the time it takes to recover from grabbing a bite to eat.  Arrive at the park and do 5 minutes of dynamic stretching and then I’m off and running.  Sort of.  Usually more like limping along for the first 1/4-mile it takes for everything to loosen up.  After that I’m generally good to go.  Finish my run off, give me some driving time to cool off and shower at work before the day begins.

It probably sounds like I’m whining about this here, and I’m truly not.  But I can’t help wonder if I’m the only one who struggles with morning runs.  I watched several people out yesterday morning who were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, obviously happy and excited to be out for a run so early.  I can honestly say that I enjoy running in the quiet of the morning, but bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?  I think not.

But I’ve got to admit that by the time I’m done, I feel pretty good.  It always ends up being a good day.

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