Early bird catches the worm

At a family party, my cousin Rocky brings up my Facebook statuses.

She asks, "How do you run 4 miles a day?"

"I don't, I do 6 a day."

She laughs, "Excuse me! Why do you do it? When in the world do find the time to do that every single day?"

"That's why I wake up at 4 a.m. I make the time."

She continues, "Stuff like that should be in a blog. You should tell all mother's out there how you do it."

Laughing out loud and shaking my head, "I do have a blog and I write about that stuff in it."

That's what went through my mind this week while running. That's something that should be blogged about. Thanks Rock for the idea.

Reasons why I run at 4 a.m.:

1. Sleep walking - I am pretty much still asleep when I run. That's the time and place where my mind just wanders and thinks of random things such as my next blog entry, what the weather will be like that day, how nice the moon looks as dawn slowly breaks. By the time I'm finished rambling to myself I'm done with my workout.

2. Breath of fresh air - The first whiff of the day, untouched by car exhaust and pollutants is heaven scent. Clean, cold air stimulates my workout.  I also swear the bugs are asleep at that time too. I have had less bug swallows at that time than I do later in the day.

3. All about the family - To avoid my family from feeling neglected, I sacrifice my beauty for the sake of spending time with them. Therefore waking up 2 hours before they do is a necessity. Plus I make it up by taking hour long naps in my car during lunch. FTW. All I need is my blanky and my cell phone alarm clock.

4. I have fans - Little did I know that I'm not the only one awake at the time. I actually have a fan base that helps cheer me on as I run. I've had honks,  "Keep up the good work!" yells as I cross the street, signage saying: Please spank me, claps and thumbs up, and even the drunken some who ran a block with me in their dress up shoes. Yes, I actually see a lot of encouragement so early in the wee morning. It keeps me going.

5. Fat jiggles - Fat. The word I despise most now that I have a body of a mother and of an older person. At my age if you run in the clear daylight fat jiggles are most noticeable. Running in the dark avoids the visible jiggle which I clearly have in my upper thighs and bum bum area. Save the onlookers and yourself the embarrassment and run when it is darkest.

6. The other world - I am fortunate to see the life of the other early birds. The street cleaners, garbage men, truckers, policemen, newspaper deliverers, the long commuter, drivers who drive through stop signs, and those who are startled to see a runner in the road and not on the sidewalk.

Yep, that's my life at 4 am in a nutshell. I get a piece of the world that other's rarely see.

Tip of the day: Let encouragement of others feed your motivation to workout.

Have a great day and Happy Running!