I run in the mornings. In the early mornings. Sometimes as early as 4am. Recently though I've been going out around 5 or 6. These days I drink coffee first. Let's just say I need to get going before I get going. Other than that, it's basically an empty stomach run.
That's why I can't run in the middle of the day. I have to make sure I haven't eaten for at least an hour. Otherwise I just feel all stuffed.
It's also hard to focus in the middle of the day. Gotta make sure you finish in time to get back to work. Or to help the kids with something. Or some other thing. It stresses me out more.
Actually, I did do two runs around summertime. A 10K or more in the morning, and then a 5K around noon. My kid was training for cross country so he came with me on those midday runs. He made the team.
When he had practice at Montclair State University in October, parents weren't (and still aren't) allowed to go inside. I got bored of sitting in the car, so I decided to run during those sessions. Those hills up there were a lot of fun.
Now that we don't practice there anymore, I just run in my neighborhood. I like the early mornings because the streets are empty. There are a handful of neighbors who leave for work at that time. And a couple of regular dog walkers. Other than that, I feel like I own the place.
Just like the birds. They are out in the early mornings, too. Hanging around on the ground. They barely even fly away when I run past them. In the early spring, it was really nice to hear all of them singing. There are a bunch of trees across the street where they all congregated. I didn't want to go by under those branches for sure.
I also love to run in the rain. You get so hot from running. And then the rain instantly cools you down. And there's definitely no other people around. Because what kind of idiot would go out to get soaked in the rain?
I used to run in Lincoln Park. There's a fairly newish track there. It's blue. I remember in college it was red. But it's blue now. The walkers there always used to bug there. They're just walking. And they don't move out of the way. Why do you need to walk around the track? Walk around the park.
Actually, now that I think about it, that is how I ended up running early. I used to go there around 7am. And then I realized the earlier I come, the less people there. So eventually, I ended up being there at 4am. I also used to run a lot. I did about 12 miles. Would take a couple hours. I would see people come and go. Usually there's a cop car parked by the 440 overpass. Sometimes it was JCPD, and sometime the Sheriff.
Sometimes to overcome the monotony of the track, I would go around the park. I tried running on grass because it was supposed to be better for your knees. But the ground was so uneven that I kept worrying about spraining an ankle.
In the summers, the McNair tennis team would practice at the courts at 6am. In the weekends, some guys would come and play cricket on the baseball fields on the western extension. On Sunday mornings, every once in a while, there were less enough cars that the traffic light patterns would give you a few minutes of silence.
Where was I going with this? I don't know. I guess I just ran on a little longer than expected.
Haha.
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