The shape of running in the morning

One of the goals motivated by my 2011 plan to run 100 miles is to run in the morning. This section of the exercising spectrum has been really hard to wrap my mind around. Running early in the morning feels different. I wake up, feel awake, try to imagine myself running but the image doesn’t work. Though I have established routes that I can follow without being fully awake, I wonder “Where I will run in the morning? How will I go about doing it?” And then I go back to sleep and dream that I made it out the door. I ran two miles a few weeks ago, but it made me late for work and my goal was to run five.

If I am going to run in the morning, I need to change the process in my mind. I need to come up with a two mile circle that loops back to my house. What this loop is designed to do is to prevent me from having an excuse to not run if I start running later than expected. I will do the loop as many times as I have time for. Two miles is better than none. I need to hold myself accountable for getting up and out the door.

I don’t think the ability to run in the morning is out of my reach. Last winter I had a hard time running in the dark after work. This year I have no trouble getting out the door when I plan an evening run. It’s been a shift in my thinking. I am officially in training mode, I expect myself to run and I do. If I can just build the expectation in the morning that I want to be running and starting my day instead of feeling happy to be in a semi-conscious state wrapped in blankets.

If I can’t do that, maybe I should start running during my lunch at work. But I think I can run in the morning, and an AM session will never conflict with the rest of the days plans, it just conflicts with my desire to extend my good dreams.