Yesterday
4:45 AM--rise and shine
5:25 AM--I threw on my gear and made my way to the gym 3.3 miles away. It's funny what you see in the dark when you're wearing a headlamp: deer eyes floating in the dark on somebody's lawn, a fox in search of a meal, roadkill from the middle of the night. I take a couple of back roads past million dollar properties that snake the road to the gym. I suffer no illusions that these houses hold no more love than my own, but they are nice to admire. I get to the gym after about 25:00, work my arms for 25 minutes, and then get home in under another 25:00. Ahh. 6.6 miles.

Today was my hills day. I get together with a bunch of troopers in town, men and women alike. We were 20-thick today. Some days we're at 30--and that's 5:30 AM. Today was a cold one, though, about 20 degrees--8 degrees real-feel temperature. The hill is about 275 meters. We plow up and run back down like we have little sense. People walking dogs have gotten used to us, as have the people whose porch lights come on because they're set for motion. Passersby in car sometimes get annoyed at our refusal to give right-of-way. We did 8 hills. I felt good and was able to maintain my composure when those legs began to buckle. Two more Tuesday hills workouts and we'll e done, I'm told. We'll see. I'll be hitting the track tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM. Am I nuts?