Crack of Dawn

Wednesday: I crawled out of bed at an ungodly hour (5.45am to be precise), having had four hours sleep, and pushed myself to get ready to run. And I am so pleased I did. I drove to the park, only to find it closed. I parked at the top of the uphill road and decided to run along the main streets. It was very dark, and extremely cold, I regretted not having my gloves with me. I hadn't had anything to eat, the idea of food so early in the morning made my stomach turn. I had my other half's old woolly hat on, to keep my ears warm, and armed with pedometer and mobile, I began my session. It wasn't perfect: my earphones played up, falling out of my ears all the time, despite having been fine for a while; the stopwatch function on my mobile played up, stopping without me wanting it to; the pedometer read I covered 7.67 miles, which I knew was grossly wrong. So, I estimated I covered 4 miles or so, in 60minutes, which includes warming and cooling down, plus a 12-14min run, a 3min walk, and an 18ming run. Any other day, these problems would have had me huffing and puffing in anger. But after a long rest and battling obstacles to get running time, I was just grateful I had run today, and run near to schedule. I was quiet hot and sweaty by the end, which helps to measure how much effort I put in. It was surprisingly lovely running in the dark, and watching the sun come up, see the city waking up as I pounded the pavements. I enjoyed listening to the new music I had downloaded for running and the bitter cold made my eyes water a great deal, but I didn't care, even though passers-by must have thought I was crying. The uphill bits were obviously hard for me but I persevered, and towards the end of the run, I saw the park had opened, so I finished there, sitting on a mound, lying on my back on the grass gasping for air, watching the sky in all its colourful glory, planes flying in and out of the airport in the distance. Today felt great, really hard in places, but so good to be out there. At the end of the day, I find my right calf is tender and the ache has spread the right knee. A hot shower after the run helped it, but at night, it aches and throbs a little. My chest also feels a little tight, when I take deep breaths, perhaps the cold morning air was a bit too cold for the lungs. I plan to make sure I eat something before the run, I felt a little dizzy and light-headed after the run, while I cooled down. I must find something my stomach can take, in order to prevent fainting from fatigue. Also, I must remember my gloves, it is much colder than I expected. And finally, I won't be taking the car, as driving back to my house, I found a shortcut I could walk to the park. This means my hobby is even cheaper than I thought :o) That will only happen for this week, though, as the children go back to nursery and school next week, and I will go back to the more normal running times of mid morning. I aim to run for the next two days, taking a break for Saturday and getting out for Sunday as well, which is merging next week's programme plan with this week's. This is of course dependent on my right calf's situation, and my ability to drag myself out of bed so early :o)