The World at 4:45 AM! - Martha

Only 10 weeks to go…so now that I am deep into this marathon training schedule of mine, I have been made to realize there are two careers you couldn't pay me enough to do. One is being a paperboy. Honestly, how do these kids do it? Now that I've had to get up at 4:45 (yes, AM) to get my morning coffee in AND a run before leaving for work, I realize there are people out there who do this every day in all kinds of weather and not for fun! You can be sure I will tip my paper guy next year at Christmas. And because it's pitch dark at 5:00 am for another good hour, I have to wear a cap with an LED light on it so I can find the road. This brings me to the next occupation I can cross off my list: coal miner. Not that it was ever high on my list to begin with. But how these guys narrow their lives to a small circle of light 10 feet in front of them, not knowing where their feet are landing, I do not know. It actually makes me kind of dizzy, but I try not to think about it. Without the light, I'd be forced to wait for a car to come by and shine its lights on things (hopefully on me first).

I tried running after work, but my legs felt like lead, the cars (of which there seem to be a million at 5:00 pm) wouldn't stop and I was too tired to cook when I finally dragged myself home. Not good for family relationships. So it's the paper guys and me. But the good news is, I'm up to a 15-mile run – an all-time high for me! It definitely makes all the difference having a running buddy on these long runs. When Heidi was away a few weeks ago, I ran 13 miles alone and it seemed like two marathons. There are only so many conversations you can have by yourself. When I run with her, it seems like we run out of miles before our topics of conversation are done. I can't imagine how boring this would be to do alone. Misery really does love company!