Sleeping In

Rest days are hard for me. I have no problem taking a rest day after running 4 days straight, especially when I have a long run to do the next day. Instead, my problem is about sleeping in, because my body doesn't like to do it. I woke up at 3:45, 4:45, 5:08, and finally 6:30 when my alarm went off. I don't know why my body thinks it's okay to do this, but it does. What it means is that I can't get a decent night's sleep. Tomorrow I'll be up early to do that long run again, but Saturday night I'm taking sleeping pills. That's all I have to say about that.

My normal morning routine is to get up at 5:30, although sometimes my body just knows it's time to wake up and a few times this week I was awake at 5:20. I check my e-mail. I spend five minutes convincing myself to get out of my warm bed. I spend another 5 minutes convincing myself to put on cold running clothes. I get ready. I put my shoes on, go outside, and get Lucy off her chain (this is also the point where she leans up against my legs and whines because I've tied her up for the night). Then she barks and jumps around and we're ready to go just as the sun is glowing above the mountains. I get up this early because there are less people, it's cooler, and because breakfast starts at 7:30 at our daycare. I'm excited the sun is coming up earlier.

But this morning I did some other exercises. I don't know why I didn't think of this before - but I ran the stairs in my two story house. Because I live alone, I wasn't bothering anybody by pounding up and down those stairs at 6:30. Unbelievably, I got tired pretty fast. I'll be doing more of these, trying to build on how many I did today.

I'm in the middle of reading Ultra-Marathon Man by Dean Karnazes (which of course I'll review when I'm done), but I came across a quote to share:

"Whether my affliction was clinical is anyone's guess; I never did submit to testing. Some seek the comfort of their therapist's office, others head for the corner pub and dive into a pint, but I choose running as my therapy. It was the best source of renewal there was. I couldn't recall a single time that I felt worse after a run than before. What drug could compete? As Lily Tomlin said, 'Exercise is for people who can't handle drugs and alcohol.'"

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SR is giving away BIC headbands on her giveaway today. You can check it out here.