Notes from a morning runner

In any marathon training cycle, especially for a goal race, it's easy to become hyper focused on training and let everything else fall by the wayside.  Success requires dedication, which can easily morph into obsession if I let it.

In an effort to keep Stevie and Neale a priority, I've been attempting, for the hundredth time in my life, to become a morning runner.  By running when they're both still asleep, I will then have time for them in the afternoons/evenings.

I normally get up at 6am for work, so this means if I want to get in any kind of meaningful workout, I have to get up as early as 4am.  My new normal has become to wake up at 4am, drink tea and read on the couch while I slowly wake up, then head out the door around 5am, depending on the day's workout.

Some notes:

• Getting out of bed is the struggle of my life.  Once over that hurdle, it isn't so bad.
• But then I get so comfortable on the couch with a good book that I don't want to leave that either.
• I leave so much time between waking up and getting out the door to give myself time to digest the previous night's dinner.  I have to use the bathroom at least a few times before every morning run.
• Nothing is better than coming home from work in the afternoon knowing I've already taken care of that day's run.
• I have definitely felt a surge of energy in my morning classes, but feel pretty exhausted by the time my last class of the day rolls around.
• I hate running in the dark.  It is doable, but it makes it significantly more difficult to get up to "cruising speed" when I can't see the terrain as well and don't want to trip.
• Spiderwebs and sprinklers: the bane of a morning runner's existence.

Are you a morning runner?  Leave me some advice or encouragement!