Inner peace at 4:00 AM

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

My 4:00 AM runs are productive, not only from a conditioning perspective, but as a method of focusing on key items in my business or personal life. The world at 4:00 AM looks a lot like 6:00 AM, except that it's significantly quieter. Every morning when I go out to run I think about all the people in the houses that I pass. Most people are still sleeping and generally all the company I might have is the car that drives around throwing the New York Times onto driveways. It's peaceful and still and the stars are in bright focus. So for the many who ask why I run at that ungodly hour, this is why.

Sometimes you can't argue that additional rest yields better performance and that was the case today. Despite my trance-like state this morning, my legs that had only run five miles over the last three days moved me along 20 sec/mile faster than my usual morning pace. While I followed my route I thought through a business issue that I hadn't been able to address with the frenzy of the work day. I came back home happy with my run and decisive in my thoughts. It was only 4:30 and I still had the whole day ahead.