Morning runners are friendlier

Or at least so they seem! I lost count of how many nods, smiles, "mornin'"s, and half waves I got this morning from fellow runners (probably at least 15!) Oddly, that was quite encouraging. I got out on the Greenway this morning for an intended 5 mile run. It was probably about 8:45? After the initial 1/2 mile of lungs rebelling against me, I started to glide. It was a really nice run on a cold, sunny morning. In fact when the nike+ lady said "1 mile to go" at the 4 mile point I was kind of sad! If I didn't have to go to work this morning, I would have gone ahead and done tomorrow's 7 miles instead. It was nice to realize at that point that I had finished those 4 miles fairly effortlessly. (yea me!) I'm looking forward to tomorrow's run for sure. I was planning on enjoying the warm weather later in the day, but *might* be motivated to go out earlier..... It just goes to show I guess I am a morning runner as long as I can do them without getting up at dark o'clock.

Oh, and I ended up going 5.5 instead of 5. :)

Second day

So I got up early again today! Yea!! I was so tired and really dragged myself out of bed to get ready. I definitely have to build in an extra 20 minutes or so of wake up time once I'm up.

I've started a routine of:

• getting up
  
• taking my first inhaler dose
  
• getting something to drink
  
• taking the second inhaler dose
  
• playing on the computer (of course!)
  
• then getting coffee ready
  
• getting dressed
  
• taking the other inhaler doses
  
• more computer ;)
• doing my hair routine of all those dang barrettes!
• getting the ipod and hat
• getting out the door

I've been hooked on my London playlist since I've started running early mornings. I usually start with Paolo Nutini's "Rewind". I like that it's so early because I can sing aloud (quietly of course! Don't want to wake anyone) as I walk up to the street corner. It's such a perfect walk since it's just about 3 1/2 minutes long- just enough for a warm up song!

It's a pain to get across the street with the short (5 seconds or so) light. Which is not enough to cross about 7 lanes. Today, I passed a couple of (girl) runners coming at me on the sidewalk in front of Publix just as I had started out. I didn't see anyone else (running at least) the entire time. It wasn't as humid as yesterday, but still a bit breezy. I was fighting some asthma today and stopped again at the top of the hill at Kroger (no gas lines today, though!)

I only did the planned 3 miles (well a tad more just to get to the end of the sidewalk!) and I was glad. However, by the end, I felt I could have gone farther. Tomorrow, the plan calls for 4. They will be tricky to do before work (getting up about 15 mins earlier! Yikes! 4:45???) I think I will go straight on State Bridge and tackle that next hill! Will be a breeze going down, but the reverse leg will be extra fun. I've got the Maroon 5 concert tomorrow night, which means I will NOT be getting up early on Thursday to run! Just being realistic! :)

I did it

Yea!! I got up this morning and ran! :) I did 3.25 humid miles. It was a bit breezy, and approximately 64 degrees. The run wasn't too bad. Had to stop at the top of the big hill past Kroger and then after I turned around at the halfway on Jones Bridge.

I knew I'd be a bit huffy and puffy due to not running for two and a half weeks. However, it wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's run.

Just a small side note about something I saw this morning. The gas stations everywhere around here have been empty for weeks now. Sometimes stations will get a delivery and people just seem to turn up and wait in line for gas! It's really been unreal! Apparently the QuikTrip at the top of the hill next to Kroger on Jones Bridge/State Bridge was filled with a huge long queue down the street. Here's a shot of it this afternoon in the same way! On the left, you can see the sidewalk I run on in the mornings.

So I lied (just a little)...

I didn't run the 4 planned miles on Saturday morning. I slept in. And didn't even change out of my pj's all day while cleaning and watching movies and playing on the computer in general. I think it was what you could call a mental health day (even this early in the school year!) However, I did feel more energetic on Sunday and went out for what was supposed to be 5 miles in the afternoon. Um, yeah. It was way too hot and humid for any of that mess. I got about 2.25 (painfully mind- could hardly breathe with my stupid heat-aggravated asthma) then I turned around and walked back. I was already planning on walking 2 miles after the run (I'm doing that whenever I have the time), so that was fine. I was pissed I couldn't run farther, however.

I wanted to run 3 miles Monday morning before work, but woke up all night long with a terrible headache and ended up sleeping in instead. Tuesday, I was finally able to get up and went 3 miles. It was 68 degrees or so and I was feeling fast again! Felt great! Today, I was up a little earlier and squeezed in an extra half mile. I wasn't quite as fast as yesterday, but it was about 72 degrees and much more humid. Plan is to run the next two mornings as well. I need to experiment with getting up about 30 minutes earlier, though, since I have been late to work the past two mornings (OOPS!) We'll see how this goes......