Thursday, June 30, 2011

I vow to run smiley in the morning

This was posted this morning on the Run Smiley Collective blog by yours truly.  I want to get the word out about this groovy blog.  It's for all runners.  It's for people who run happy.  If you don't run smiley then maybe its time to try.  Regardless check it out!

My superhero dear one has been trying to change my night owl ways and get me out of bed in the morning for months now. Ok, maybe years.  I have myself convinced that I get my best sleep in the morning and try to ignore the fact that if I went to bed earlier this would all change.

  Over the last few days or so it has become clear that with our schedule as it is we either run at 5:00 in the afternoon or early morning.  Here in good ol' Des Moines Iowa its starting to get quite warm (frakkin hot) and I have to factor in the heat when we run. It makes it harder to just go out and run smiley when you have the sun beating down on you and the asphalt glaring up from a days worth of heat soaked in. I am having to concede that I need shoes in this heat and its just not even close to being as enjoyable as barefoot.  So somethings gotta give.  I love to run.  Its simple.  I love the feeling of propelling myself forward through time and space of my own accord.  Its not a matter of wanting to run its now a matter of making the time in order to remain a sane human being.

Remember how I mentioned I am not a morning person.......take a deep breath.... here goes....

I am now a morning person.  
  There I said it.  Its out there for the world to hold me accountable.  This morning I got up and ran with the hubster and I even kept from being grouchy although he did well at not saying much.  It was already close to 80 degrees when we headed out and we ditched our shirts after the first couple of miles.  We left the house barefoot and came home barefoot.  We had big gardening hats on to shade the morning sun. He had his kilt and I my running skirt.  I wish now that I had taken pictures since I take my camera with me on every run.  We ran up and down the hill in the cemetery for an hour and then ran home.  I don't really know how far it is and don't care.  My heart was pumping and I felt the breeze cooling my bare skin.  I ran happy without a care in the world.  I am humbled and I choose to change.

  Now I feel refreshed, mellow, and ready for the day and not hot and haggard and like I should be singing bad country songs.  There has been lots of talk about  running smiley lately, hence the blog and awesome group of people, and I vowed last summer that I would not run when I didn't want to.  I needed to remind myself of that and take a different perspective since change was in order.  I have to make friends with the early hours. Being happy is work sometimes.  Its being able to see past the present discomfort and believe that it will change and the good feelings will come.

Mornings, 
I now consider you my friend and ally in this whole happiness thing.  Thanks for your sunshine and cool breezes and sorry it has taken me so long. I will send out my good feelings to the world in return for your loveliness.
Yours Truly,
Angie Bee

13 comments:

Amanda@runninghood said...

Way to create your own happiness here! And find joy in morning running. I don't do so well running in the mornings and I like to stay up late. Heat not a problem here but because of the lack of sun, happiness has been work for sure. Today I didn't even feel like running so I walked and ran slow and read Born To Run on the treadmill without pushing myself. It was nice. And now I'm determined to make my own happy hour tonight. :) Lovely writing ...the words and the meaning behind them! :)

Anonymous said...

Yay- you're now a morning person!!! It's funny- I used to be a morning person, until I hit a bout of overtraining, and this week is the first week that I've been back to morning running with actual eagerness again. I think mornings and I are becoming friends again too. Keep it up!
:)

Penny said...

Hey Angie, I am so a morning person. Sometimes I wish I could get enough energy to run after work so I didnt have to get up so darn early. Actually I have not been running. I just have not been feeling like doing any kind of workout.. But Holy Moly today I finally felt like I just might like to try running this morning. It was amazing how I felt. I dont know what I was going threw but I sure hope that it is done and I get back into the groove of things. As I get closer to the big 50 I feel like my body is doing funny things that I am trying to figure out. Darn it hell to get old.

Frances aka "Barefoot Fresca" said...

Wow! When I read the first paragraph, I really did think you might be right about not being a morning person. As a person who has a son with a rare circadian rhythm disorder, I've been learning a LOT about people's circadian rhythms from a support group I joined and I can tell you that there might be something to that "owl" and "lark" stuff. Just google "Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome" (DSPS) and you'll see what I mean.

But then you ended the story telling of your transformation into a morning person, so maybe in your case it was just a matter of a little adjustment and your circadian cycle is a flexible adaptive one.

pepster said...

You're inspirational

Richelle said...

I'm not a morning person either. I did go for a run yesterday morning before work and loved it. I might make that a routine.

Suzy said...

Early morning runs are the absolute best, especially when you can watch the sun rise while running. Welcome to the other side. :)

Anonymous said...

My goal as well Angie.. I really need to learn how to run Smiley!!!!!!!!!

Janice said...

My goal for the summer is to get all my workouts in before noon. Pavement gets hot after that and when I do workout earlier in the day, I always enjoy the day better. Like you, I'm not a morning person, so this is going to be hard.

Good luck. Hopefully we'll both be successful:)

Unknown said...

Thanks for the welcome into the club!
@Frances, I am intrigued and going to google now. I have always, even as a little girl, been a night owl.
Good morning to you all :)

Kruns2 said...

While I'm not naturally a morning person I HAVE to get my runs done in the morning before the hubby goes to work and can stay home with the kiddos or else it doesn't get done. We seem to get so busy as the day goes by! Welcome to the A.M.!

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

Welcome to it! Nothing beats a cool quiet foggy early morning run. Unless it's a crisp star-lite evening run. Oh crap. I like them both. Can I be a morning evening person? Either way I run both times smiling! ;-)

The Green Girl said...

Wow, congratulations! I've tried, unsuccessfully, to become an early morning person and I have yet to succeed but this is inspiring!

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