Pre-Dawn Running....

I went from running in the beautiful country of Japan...

To the rainy Washington State :(

I can already tell where I am going to run into a problem with this marathon training. Pre-dawn running in a small town. See I just moved back to the states from Japan. Running early in the mornings at 4:15 AM use to be no problem for me. Especially in the summer because the sun comes up bright and early at 4 AM. They don't call Japan "land of the rising sun" for no reason. I loved running in Japan. Running in an unfamiliar territory can be fun. You get to see new things daily. Living next to the ocean was also another bonus :)

Now I live in the wettest state of the USA....Washington. I have to adjust to morning runs in the dark and running in this boring city I call home. Don't get me wrong, the Pacific Northwest is gorgeous but the particular area I live in is a wooded area and who know's what's lurking around those woods in the dark.

But I was reminded this morning of something I tell new runners all the time. “You have to build a habit.” So, tomorrow morning when the alarm goes off at the ungodly hour of four a.m., I will get up, lace up my shoes and build the habit. And I will remain hopeful that one day I will have built a habit that brings me the same joys my runs have brought me for the past year.

Tips For Running In The Morning:

Go to bed early. 7-8 hours of sleep would be great but for some reason I only get about 6.

Lay out your clothes (including hair ties and shoes) the night before. Or you can sleep in them. Try to have them organized (all the way down to having your socks unbundled) you can get dressed more quickly.

Charge your Ipod/Cell Phone the night before. Make sure to upload your new tunes on your Ipod the night before.

Program your Garmin in advance. If your planning intervals or anything that involves programming, set your watch the night before so you only have to wait for it to acquire a signal and then push “go”.

Prepare and fluids or gels the night before.

Hydrate and nourish well the night before. I don't normally eat before a run (unless it's a long run 10 miles or more.) I try to eat enough food the night before so I won't wake up starving. Not too much though, there's nothing like having to go number two during a long run. grrrrrrrr

Put the alarm clock on the other side of the room.

DON'T get on the computer the morning of your run and don't check the Iphone! Too many times I have wasted a lot of time, had to cut a run short, or have even missed a run because I sat down to check the weather and then got sucked into e-mail, blogs, or even Facebook. I am still working on this and need to not go anywhere near the Iphone or computer...... it is costing me sleep!