Early One Morning

I am NOT a morning person. Most days--with the exception of Saturdays--I roll out of bed around 10 or 11am. I prefer getting my runs in during late morning or early evening, which is pretty much impossible now that the temperature has been cresting 85 long before noon. So, the choices are to deal with the heat and accompanying misery or wake up early. This morning, I chose to latter.

The alarm went off at 6am. I ate my breakfast of champions (Trader Joe's peanut butter on a plain mini-bagel) and met Tim at 6:30am for our weekly track workout. We jogged the 1.5 miles down to the track at E. Rivers, where the PRUMC bootcampers--including my old choir buddy, Matthew--were already hard at work. We did 20 x 100's, with 100 meters of walking in between each lap. It was a nice change not to have the sun blaring down on us or to deal with the scores of children wandering on and off the track. We averaged 5:45 pace for the 100 sprints and decided to break our lazy habit of walking up Cardiac Hill, which we tackled at a decent pace--in spite of lethargic legs--and finished up the stretch from Collier Road to 26th Street at a pace a bit under 9:00. These workouts give me so much confidence in my strength and endurance, reminding me a bit of my inner tomboy, who proudly bested both the 2nd and 3rd grade classes--boys included--in sprints across the schoolyard in Texas.