7 at Dawn

Sam very nicely slept through the night last night, so although I woke up once very briefly, I managed to get about 7 hours of sleep. Hurray. Amazing how your perception changes. Prior to becoming a mom, I would never have considered 7 hours a good night's sleep. Now, it is wonderous :-) The alarm went off at 5am, and I lay there briefly before getting out of bed. It was very dark out. Sam cried out around 5:15, and I went up and settled her back down, covering her back up with her blanket and rubbing her back until she went back to sleep. Then, shortly after 5:30, just as a bit of light was creeping into the sky, I headed off on my run.

I ran the 7-mile dump loop, down the powerlines and out through the woods to the dump, along the ponds at the edgeof the property, and back into the woods before returning to the powerlines to make a big wacky looking lollypop. I had been hoping I would get to see a nice sunrise as a reward while I ran along, but with a light mist falling and the low clouds and fog, it simply stayed dark and dreary. Oh, it got lighter, especially out in the open, but in the woods, it was still pretty dark even at the end. Just a few miles in, with the combination of the mist and the humidity, I was soaked. I was also followed by a lot of deer flies, which surprised me. It was so early! But there was no breeze, and it certainly felt warm out. They were a bit lethargic, and I was able to kill a number of the ones which landed on my shoulders, but they were still annoying. I did see four deer along the way, which was neat. There were a few birds twittering off in the woods, and a few sparrows flitting about here and there, but otherwise, all was quiet.

I felt pretty good running, not fast, but steady. My right ankle/outer calf is still very tight. I wish I could work it out completely. Ah well. Other than that, it was a nice early morning run, and I am so glad to have gotten out, and to have managed to pull off my 30 mile week despite leaving the final miles to the last minute :-)

Amazingly, when I got home, Sam had just woken up. Lucky Daddo! :-) I took a quick shower, and Ryan took off to run over to the Topsham Sunrise Stampede 5k just down the street at the Topsham Fairground. Sam and I had a bite to eat, got dressed and headed over ourselves, arriving in time to see the start. We hung out in the bandstands while the runners were off on the course, and were excited to cheer Ryan in to a 2nd place finish. Nice! Unfortunately, I had to leave soon after to head to work, but Ryan and Sam were planning to hang out for a bit and wander around the fair, looking at the animals, etc. I left them with the B.O.B., so Sam will get a fun ride home too!

A very active morning indeed :-)