Night Running

Yesterday was just not a good day for scheduling my planned run. I recently got asked by a friend on twitter if running, and the time that I devote to it, causes any heartache with my significant other (SO)? Actually, I wasn’t asked personally, everyone in the twitterverse was and almost without exception, people responded that their running addiction has caused some strife between them and their (usually non-running SO). While I won’t elevate my situation to anything close to strife, it has come up. My wife and I have talked about it and I think we reached a mutually acceptable accommodation.
Well, yesterday’s accommodation seemed like I wasn’t going to be able to run. She worked the overnight shift in the hospital and didn’t get home until 8am, and I needed to leave for work by 215pm to be at my hospital by 3pm. So, if she was to get any sleep before she assumed the mommy role, I was going to have to miss my run. This made me a little cranky, but what are you going to do? I worked for 12 hours in triage (known as the penalty box in my ER) and by the time I got home at 415am I was so wired and spun up for all the disgruntled patients that I decided to go for a run.
What a wise decision! It was a total de-stressor. I grabbed my headlamp, blinking LED arm strap, and left the iPod at home. It was pitch black when I left and all I could hear was the cacophony of crickets and frogs. My headlamp would occasionally catch the glimmer of an animal’s eyes off in the distance, but they were always gone by the time that I got there. I went out for 4+ miles and by the end of my very enjoyable run, the sun, although still not visible, was starting to illuminate the world. I noticed that the sound of the crickets and frogs had been replaced by the sounds of the morning song birds. I only passed one car and I was able to run in the middle of the road for my entire run. I was able to get in my run without stealing any time away from the family. What a great run!
I came home, drank my chocolate milk and crashed. I think I’m going to incorporate more middle of the night runs into my training plan, especially once the summer heat arrives and makes the 3pm runs a little less enjoyable.