Run: 6.3 miles in :48:45 @ 4:30 a.m.

Pace: 7:44 min./per mile avg.
Weather: Clear, 37°F
Course: A slight variation on Castaway's Ritzy 6-mile Run

”If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.” ~Dale Carnegie

Tossing and turning much of the night with a dry mouth and scratchy throat, I woke up to stare at the clock. The bright red numbers don’t seem to advance and what feels like hours is only ten or maybe fifteen minutes. It’s nearly 4:00 a.m., so what thought crosses my mind? Maybe I should go for my run this morning rather than this evening, so I could enjoy my daughter's cross-country meet later in the day, and possible sneak in a short jog with my wife in the evening.

It’s very clear this morning, so also very crisp, and for the first time since May, I pull on my running tights and knit cap, as much to protect myself from the cool early morning air as to attempt to stave off further exacerbating my already troublesome runny nose.

The run goes well, just one recovery day removed from back-to-back 12 milers, and the delicate dance of training, work, and family has begun in earnest for another school year…

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!