Digging the 5:45 a.m. run

When the little man was growing in this mama runner's belly, I started doing crazy things like: waking up early, eating breakfast, not drinking so much wine, and not vegging on the couch for hours and hours. It was like Will completely changed me because I had to start thinking about someone else (gasp!) besides me! Doh!

I'm always amazed at how different my life is today compared to 2.5 years ago.

Now, I've made all these (positive) changes in my life because of Will and now also because of training for this 1/2 marathon. I seriously feel like my life is so good right now.

I have been voluntarily waking up at 5:26 to get dressed and out the door and to drive the 3 miles or so to the park to run with my running girls. It's awesome. I am so excited about this major change in my life. I can promise that 3 years ago, I wouldn't be caught ANYWHERE except in my bed at 5:30 a.m..

The fun thing about getting up though, is the great girls I'm running with. We are busy ladies with jobs, kids, family, friends, Facebook... and we all make the time to run.

With the weather as unpredictable as it is and the heat that we've been experiencing (high of 91 Thursday and 94 on Saturday), it's not only fun to get up and run with 6 other ladies and share the experience of running, it's also pretty much essential to get a good run in.

I'm also loving the feeling I get throughout the day of knowing that I'm done. I don't have to juggle being a wife, employee, mom and runner between the hours of 5 p.m. & 7 p.m.. All I have to be is wife and mom and those two things are really all I want to be after a long day at work.

So this morning was awesome. Tuesdays always seem better than Thursday. I think it has to do with the wonderful 2 days of rest we get between Saturday and Tuesday. Today just felt good and like I was in my groove. I love that feeling.

I invited a church friend and her running partner to join us and they did! I loved migrating groups!

We did our normal 4 mile loop and finished in the same amount of time we have been in the weeks prior. The hills are still a bitch but I just think they always will be.

Speaking of hills, tomorrow, I'm going to do "hill repeats" with the Janes group at the park that Liz encouraged us to do. We aren't meeting until 6 p.m. and apparently an expert is going to lead us in this. Tomorrow is an exception to the rule of being home in the evenings but I'm sure the boys will do just fine without me.

And then on Thursday (provided I survive hill repeats), I'll be hoping that I don't wake anyone as I sneak out the back door of our house at 5:45 a.m. to do another 4 miler with my crazy girls. Crazy girls that I am proud to call my friends. I really just can't wait to get back out there again!