4:18 A.M.

A facet of being a parent that I have repeatedly talked about with other fathers is the need to be able to continue to go out and do the things that you did before children. Now most of them claim that they have no time or that they are too tired to do those things, but i firmly believe that it helps keep you grounded. If anything, it has made me really focus my time and effort to be more effective.

Now the rule the wife and i agreed upon was that i could continue to go for long runs on the weekend, although she is not really thrilled with me wanting to run more than a 50k, if i made sure i was home in enough time to spend the day with the family. Henceforth, a long run this morning that started at 4:18 A.M.

Alarm was slated for 4:30 A.M., but princess dawg was having a bit of the sniffles and promptly woke the wife and i up at 4 a.m. With the ever present comment, "You know the alarm is going to go off in 20 minutes," i thought well i am up so let's go.

Took Nemo for the 1st 5 miles before heading out for a bigger loop. Things we saw between 4:18 a.m. and 5:11 a.m. on loop #1.

#1 - A drunk guy walking with a plastic cup and talking on his cell phone about how he was going up to the corner grocery store, which doesn't open until 9 a.m. on a Sunday, for some cigarettes.

#2 - 3 cop cars go flying down the street w/o lights on

#3 - ever present smell of a skunk for a 1/2 mile w/o seeing one

#4 - some lady in a bra and panties runs back across the train underpass picking up clothes left in the street and hides behind one of the pillars as the dog and i pass by

After dropping Nemo off, I headed out for a longer loop. Passing the same spot where Nemo and I saw the lady, this time i spotted two people hiding behind the same pillar and groans coming from that vicinity. Rest of run is uneventful.

Thanks to my new toy, Polar RS200SD, i can look at all sorts of cool data and even see if my training is effective.

Today: 15.17 miles/2 hr. 31 min/ avg heart rate: 137 / calories 1874

Home in enough time before little dirt dawg comes out to say, "Good Morning"