Star

Star, one of the backup alarms

Was in that twilight zone between sleeping and waking when I heard NPR’s Morning Edition in my ear. It was 5:15am and my first thought was “shit, I am supposed to get up and run 5 miles”. It had been a restless night of sleep. I was in a foul mood and a general sense of anxiety hung around me. I snuggled up to Elaine. How easy it would be to try to get another hour of sleep. And I almost did. Luckily, our hungry cats, Star and Buster, had roused and were asking for breakfast, and I remembered how bad I wanted a PR come November. I managed to roll out of bed, start the coffee and feed the cats.

After my first cup of coffee, I finally got out the door even though my mood had not improved much. Did my usual 5 minute warmup walk and started to run, slowly. Once I warmed up a bit more, I picked up a little speed and thought, “this isn’t so bad”. Even though it was warm and humid, the run got better and better. One of my best runs since this whole running thing restarted. By the time I was done I felt great. My mood had totally changed and I generally had a good day. Running helped me push the reset button on the day.

Junction 311 Endurance Sports