Saturday long runs are consistently my favorite part of the week. I look forward to them no matter where I am or how early I inevitably have to wake up. I used to run in the early afternoon on Saturdays, but as of late I’ve gotten used to being an early bird. I guess it comes with the territory of being a “runner.” But, this has not come easy, since I am a night person through and through. Do you see my problem? I like to stay up late and it is when I feel most productive and at ease, yet this is not ideal before an early morning LSD run. I need my sleep. I feel like in order to get up at 6:30 and get a normal amount of sleep I’m going to have to start winding down at 8 the night before. This may sound excessive, but I’m totally serious. I figure if it takes me 2-3 hours once I get in bed to turn off the computer, stop reading, or finish whatever it is I am doing I will hopefully be tired enough to be asleep by 11.
Take last night for example, I didn’t go to sleep until just after 1:15am. Unacceptable. Especially because lately after I get home from Saturday long runs I am tired and just want to decompress. So I nap. I lay in bed, read, catch up on TV, and nap. And my day seems to slowly waste away. So much for having woken up early and having had a productive morning! I will have to continue to work on making the switch from a night owl to an early bird, at least a couple nights a week…
The funny thing about my long (Saturday) runs is I’ve still done more away from home than not and most of them have been outside of the US. Like, next weekend I’ll be in Pittsburgh. Then one more long run in DC until the half marathon! Hopefully I will continue my long runs in DC afterwards, and my breakfast at Dean & Deluca following them, unit I leave here in May. Then who knows what running holds in my future. All I know is, I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t run and I hope I never have to find out.