Exercise Journal - 11 May 2009

I got up this morning a little before 4.30 to run. I looked at the clock to make sure I was reading it right. I wasn't tired, but I wasn't awake either. Was it really that early? As I stood there breathing and whirring in the dark, Heather rolled over.
"Is it time to get up already?"
I leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Not yet. I'm going running."
"But you just went to bed."
"It only feels that way. I love you."
She rolled over and fell back asleep. I set the alarm clock to 5.30 and pulled on shorts, a heavy gray t-shirt, and my beige Nike hoodie with the frayed collar and cuffs. The fan sucked in gulps of the cool night air and I knew I needed a jacket to run in or I'd freeze.

I stood looking in the mirror for a minute, staring at myself. I entertained the idea that I might actually look dashing, and then I got to the business of brushing my teeth. Once I was done with that, I pulled up the leg of my shorts and pissed in the toilet and I was off. Down the stairs, stop watch in hand, and out the door I stepped into the dark early morning.

It was quiet. The birds barely murmured. The roads still slept. The air felt poised to spring up. I slowly walked the circle, taking time to tweet that I was out jogging that early.

I turned the corner and started jogging. Immediately my knees complained and felt stiff, so I slowed a little, but I wasn't going to stop. I turned the corner and into the next circle. Dogs in house barked madly as I made my rounds. Birds started waking and whooping in the trees. Someone opened their garage door. I pushed on, jogging down the long hill till I couldn't suck breath any more. I reveled in the fact that I'd jogged without stopping even further than I had any time before. I checked my stop watch and saw I wasn't making great time, but I still felt wonderful.

I walked for two minutes until my breath caught up with me and then I started again, jogging the rolling hills of my neighborhood, making the turns and climbs back to my house. The joy of living on top of the hill is paired with the pain of having to climb that hill every time you want to get home. At 4.30 in the morning my wife's not going to get out of bed to pick me up if I get lazy.

When I got back to the circle by my house I slowed and walked quietly. The neighbor's dog Molly apoplectically barked at me again. I laughed and sucked air as I cooled down. The stop watch showed I'd made a 17-minute mile. I was happy. It wasn't my best time, but I didn't even expect that good of a result for running that early.

And there's always Wednesday to improve on my time.