Committed or Just Plain Crazy?

After the Raleigh Rocks 1/2 Marathon with some friends from graduate school.

So I recently moved my long runs to Thursday mornings simply because it works better with my schedule. I usually don't have class until 11am so this gives me plenty of time to run, get showered and take the 30 minute bus trip to Chapel Hill. Well, this morning I had a meeting on campus at 8am. Despite this fact I was dead-set on getting in my morning run. Completing  the ~9 miles that I hoped to accomplish today meant getting up at 4am and running by 4:45 am. Most committed runners I know do stuff like this all the time; you may be one of them. It's like you're addicted to the adrenaline rush from a great run. We run in all types of weather, all hours of the day.. I will admit that I am not nearly as extreme as some folks I know and honestly never desire to be that way (i.e. running 100 mile marathons, running across country, etc.) but I know that even this type of behavior would be considered pretty crazy my most people I know.

Anyways, the run this morning was great. Weather was perfect, no traffic, and about an hour and a half of time to do a lot of thinking (I have some of my best thoughts during my long runs). There's something very cathartic about the rhythm of your strides and your feet hitting the payment at regular intervals. However, I must admit it was a little scary at some points along the path and I found myself wondering at times whether or not I would make it back safely to even write this blog post. Something about it being dark and how quiet the city is at that hour is just a little eerie.

So, in getting to the point, I found myself thinking during this run how incredibly thankful I was that God has given me the legs to run, the lungs to breathe and the ability to go for a run at such an hour without any (real) fears of danger. It's funny, I started running when I was about  14 which means I've been going strong for about 16 years (yes, I'm admitting my age here folks); I never thought I'd be so blessed to continue this activity for so long. I can only hope that I can go just as strong for the next 16, 32, 48 or more years.

OBX 1/2 Marathon