I like to run in the morning. I also like fall. So the fascinating paradox is that I always find it so hard to get up to run in the morning come fall.
I am not sure whether it is because it is getting cooler out – at this time of year it is hard to dress because the weather hangs out in that zone where you can’t decide shorts vs. capris and short sleeves vs. long sleeves, and you spend some mornings freezing and other mornings melting because you just can’t get it right. Maybe it’s the fact that it is darker – but I do adjust to that eventually. Maybe it is just the transitional nature of the season.
Whatever the reason, if you like to run in the morning but have more trouble getting moving in the fall, I’ll share with you what I do to make sure I get up, and I would love to hear your suggestions as well!
I lay out my clothes the night before, and have a few choices. That way I don’t say “oh well it’s much too cold for shorts, but I can’t turn the light on in the bedroom to find my pants and risk waking my husband! Might as well go back to bed.”
I try not to think. As dumb as it sounds, when I wake up in the night and calculate how much time is left until it’s time to get up, I spend a few moments debating whether I should even get up, or just reset the alarm. To avoid that thought even entering my mind, I just try not to think at all, or at least limit the thought to “ungh. Not time yet.”
Recently, I have taken to putting a small lamp in another room on a timer, set to come on just before the alarm. That way I feel like it isn’t so early and dark and miserable. This helps for getting up on non-run mornings too!
Most importantly, I remind myself that I never regret running. I had the debate just this morning – the bed was so warm, I felt so sleepy and comfortable, I didn’t particularly feel like running. Then I said this: “do you ever regret skipping a run? Yes. (By “you,” of course I meant me. Please don’t lock me up.) Do you ever regret going for a run? No.” With all the other stuff that goes on in a day, who really needs to add regret to the equation? End of debate.
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I got through the EXACT same debate every fall morning – I think the shifting darkness is what does it for me. Like you, I find that leaving out a pile of clothes in varying levels of warmness helps, but eventually I just need to kick myself out of bed and onto the road.
It’s true! That’s what it comes down to.
I was speaking with someone today who told me he sleeps in his running clothes on run days. I can see a recipe for disaster on non-run days if he’s not quite awake!