When to Run

With everyone being busier than ever, how on earth are we supposed to find an hour or more to do something like exercise? If its not already a part of your routine, it can be incredibly difficult to work it in.

When I first started running it was March - which is still cold and snowy. It wasn't so cold that there was ice on the pavement though, so it was okay for running. I am completely not a morning person, so when I first started running, I went after school/work (whichever ended later that day). And that worked out great. Until the weather turned nice.

See, while a 65 degree day is perfect for walking, gardening, picnics, and general sun worshiping, it is rough to run in. It turns out that while you're exercising and your body is working like mad to keep you cool, you actually make yourself a warm little personal bubble. In fact, as a general rule, you should plan for a full 20 degrees warmer than the actual temperature. That means that on a brisk 45 degree morning, you'll be experiencing a pleasant 65 degrees. And that perfect sun-worshiping 65 degree day? Yeah, it just became 85 degrees that you have to run in. Around where I live, our day time highs right now are averaging in the high 70s, so that means that I either run in the morning or the evening. And lets face it, by the time the evening rolls around, I'm tired, likely frustrated by my day, and I've gotten stubborn.

It took a significant amount of trial and error before I finally admitted to myself that I was going to have to get my pillow-loving ass out of bed in the mornings to run before work. Sigh. I've gotten pretty okay with it though. I have a feeling my coworkers can tell which days were running days based solely on my mood and productivity. I feel better when I run in the morning. Plus, its still nice and cool, so my personal bubble rarely gets over 70 degrees. My only real struggle is the weekend.

A lot of runners love the weekend. Why? Without the constraints of weekday obligations, they have more time to run. For those training for long distance races, that is when they often do their 'long' runs - runs that can be up to twice the distance they run during a weekday run. They merrily get up early and run for a few hours. Now, assuming that I was physically able, I don't have a problem with the 'few hours' part. Its the getting up early. I HATE getting up early, especially if there are no obligations that mean that I have to. I like sleep, so sue me.

This tends to make running on the weekends tricky though. If I sleep in, it is likely to already be in the 70s by 9 or 10am. A 90 degree bubble is no es bueno. I still haven't worked out all the kinks on that one yet. Take this morning for example. Today is a running day - at some point, I will get my 2 miles in. My hubby helpfully asked if I wanted to get up and go run at 7:30. I said 'not yet', and we went back to sleep. I next woke up at 10am, when it was already 63 degrees outside. Nice. I could have gone and done my run then, but this is likely the only time I'll get with the kids to work on their Father's Day projects without him around (he's still sleeping) before the big day tomorrow. (Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.) So now, I am forced to wait for the evening.

How about you? When do you run? Pros, cons?