Early Morning Blues

Early in the morning before day, that's when my blues come falling down. ~Muddy Waters

Breaking up sucks. There is that time in the morning right after I wake up where I have a few moments before the reality sets in and colors my day. Then I either feel like I want to rise and tear up whatever run is on the agenda, or I want to stay in bed and just do nothing. Usually the way I feel depends on how much sleep I’ve gotten. This morning I lie there, aware that I had to get up, one last time, so I could make it back in time to take Tony to school.

One basic truism I’ve experienced again and again with running is that pain and suffering doesn’t last. Running is linear, I put one foot in front of the other enough times and eventually all runs end, no matter how tough or long or disappointing they are. Lots of times this takes longer than I want, but they end. This year’s Boston has become my new benchmark here. It took running for three hours, two of them in more or less abject misery, for the finish line to come up.

And as the miles pass, so do the days, measured out in morning loops and blog entries. This morning I talked myself down from 11 to 8 miles. Before I could deride myself for insipient laziness I got on the road and realized how little energy I had, and how astutely my subconscious picked up on that. I went with it, just asked my legs to give me eight, however long it took.

And it took awhile. Sweetbriar/49^th St. loop in 72:50. Longer than I ever remember it taking me to run this loop.