One Of Those People

This view does not suck. 

Since I last checked in at the beginning of June and admitted that both Dino and I were not at peak fitness, I sincerely started making an effort to run before work 2 days a week. In the intervening month and a half, I've only missed one day of 5:00am running due to a violent thunderstorm. My main goal has been not to give up before I make these early runs a habit.

In addition to each consecutive run sucking less and less, I'm slowly becoming one of those people that actually likes getting up at obscene hours of the morning to exercise. I never thought I'd say it, but I actually find myself enjoying hitting the trail to the park at sunrise and starting my day with a 2.5 mile run. I feel accomplished having already exercised by 6:00am, and after I got over the initial hump of feeling absolutely awful for the first week or two, I physically feel better after having run first thing in the morning. Getting up at 5:00 still isn't easy, but it's getting less difficult as I come to enjoy these morning runs more and more. 

Running early in the morning is also making me a WAY faster runner. When I started these pre-dawn workouts, I was averaging about an 11 minute mile. I was exhausted, I lacked energy, I felt like I couldn't get enough air, and just making it through the whole run was a Herculean feat. 

But since making the commitment to the habit of running before work just two days a week, my average daily pace sits closer to a 10 minute mile, with the last half a mile or so clocking in around a 9 minute mile. One morning last week, I clocked a sprint at 8:30. 

I can't even tell you the last time I ran faster than a 9 minute mile, ever! Being able to push myself first thing in the morning when I'm tired, uncoordinated, and under-fueled has made me so, so much faster when I'm fully awake and appropriately fed. 

I'm becoming one of those people who run early in the morning, and I kind of like it.