Dark

I'm a morning person. I love waking up early and being productive, it's when i'm at my best. It's also the main reason I love running in the morning. I have energy, the world around me has yet to wake up and most importantly, I can see.

While working in Arizona, my schedule is different than back home. The biggest difference for me is that my schedule forces me to run in the evening. I'm more than three weeks in now and I am still having trouble adjusting. It's not the lack of energy (which is definitely a challenge) or the uncertainty of when i'll run, but the hardest part about running in the evening is the dark.

The obstacle of darkness challenges me in a couple of ways. First, running becomes more difficult because I have to focus more on where I step and pay close attention to any hazards in the road. Even though I wear a headlamp to help me see, i'm often times thrown off by something I don't immediately see.

The aspect of night-running that I find most challenging, however, is not being able to see what lies farther ahead. I can only see about 10 feet in front of me. I hate this.

In life, as in running, I love to focus on what lies ahead. Often times future goals are my main motivation to get through today. Night running forces me to stay in the moment, to focus on the immediate task at hand and to put foot over foot, keeping a close eye for anything that might cause me to stumble.

By now you all know me well enough to read into that and know this doesn't only apply to my running.