Five miles before dawn

I made it down to the trail to run with the chicks this morning at 5:30 despite having been woken up at 4:30 by Campbell. That is just an awful time to be woken up on a running morning. There's no point in my going back to sleep, but the paper isn't here yet, so what's a girl to do? I ended up dozing in bed, with the alarm still set, listening to Campbell jabber in the crib.

I am so glad I got up to run, though. It was just the perfect morning for running - clear and crisp and no wind to speak of. L said she was feeling frisky due to the weather, and I have to admit that I was too.

We did a route that's new to me, and I loved. We started out on the north side of the lake and then turned onto Congress, heading toward the Capitol. I love running up Congress Avenue with the Capitol looming in front of us. Since it was still dark, the Capitol was in full-lit glory - it's one of my favorite Austin views.

L, J and I turned around at 8th Street and headed back to the lake, for a total of five miles. I tried to keep up with L in the final half mile, but she was feeling frisky and just took off. I gave chase for about 100 yards and then fell behind, still managing to hold a pretty brisk pace.

When we finished the sun was just coming up, and the sky was turning all these beautiful oranges and pinks. The temperature had dropped from when we started, but we were all good and warm from the run, so it didn't matter much.

This was the first run I've had in almost two years where I felt good the whole way; the first run where I didn't feel like I was getting back into shape. I finally felt like I was in running shape. It's been a long time coming, and it was such an amazing way to start the day. I've been cheerful all morning, despite the early wake-up call and the looming migraine.

Tomorrow I'm meeting another running chick and accompanying her for five miles of her ten-mile route. I hope it's as successful a run as today's was.