Sleepy 6am

It first happened back in November of 2009. The dreaded, wakeup-roll-out-of-bed and hope you get the right foot in the right shoe and hit the pavement early morning run. Training for a race isn't easy when you also have a busy schedule. What do you do when you can't find an hour in your day to fit in a run? You make it happen at hour zero. Or more accurately, hour 5 minutes too early.

I prefer running after work, so I usually find a way to make that happen, but alas, it isn't always possible. Here's what early morning runs look like for me:

5:40am--The alarm goes off. I hit snooze.
5:45am--The alarm goes off again and I get up and out of bed as quickly as possible before I have time to think about it. Logic is not welcome at this hour.
5:48am--I give myself a pep talk, or more accurately, I try to convince myself that this is going to be good run, it will wake me up, and it's going to be the start of an awesome day. Or something like that.
5:50am--Dressed and in the (hopefully) correct left and right running shoes, I'm out the door.
5:51am--What. the. heck. am. I. doing. Want. sleep.
5:53am--Mental self-cursing stops, and I get into my stride
5:57am--Why don't I remember the last 5 minutes? Was I aslee...
6:00am--Ok, I can do this! The sun is shining, I'm running over the Longfellow Bridge and the breeze off the water feels great...now I'm remembering why I torture myself.
6:10am--Just got passed by the third runner. How do people run so fast in the morning? (answer--they take an extra few minutes to eat something! Just learned this)
6:15am--My legs are finally awake and I can start to push into a faster pace.
6:20am--Crossing over the Mass Ave bridge and I feel great. The sun is already warming things up and there are enough people out that it doesn't feel as early as it is.
6:25am--The realization that I still have a full day ahead just hit me. I find I easily forget things that are fairly important when I'm running in the morning. Probably because if I had more than one train of thought (left right left right left right) then I might fall over.
6:35am--Coming up to my morning stop-and-walk point. I've been awake for nearly an hour now and it seems like it's going to be a great day. Now for coffee...

Hopefully, what you got from that is that I never regret my morning runs. Knowing that I will feel great afterward is the only thing that gets me out in the morning when the last thing I want to do is lose an hour of sleep. It's also the best solution for those days when you just can't seem to find time to fit in a run (just remember to eat something first!)

Happy running, even if it's sleep running!

The Starting Point

How did I get here? I ran. How am I leaving? I'm running. What am I doing in between? I'm raising money to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

What's with all the running everywhere? Well if I'm going to be running the Nike Women's Marathon in October, it just makes sense!

Between now and October, I will be training for my first marathon, the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. At the same time, I will be raising money that will fund research for a cure for the diseases listed above--diseases that have worn out their welcome. In training for the marathon, there will be hard work, energy and determination and in fundraising, there will be enthusiasm, belief and compassion. I expect nothing less.

Please follow me over the next five months as I update my progress towards competing in a marathon and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphona Society.

Thank you!