Insane goal; Insane hour

My summer goal is to up the running both distance & speed. Yes, I know - what an insane goal to have during the hottest (and most humid) part of the year in Florida. To break that down down to numbers for you -it means 95 degrees before lunchtime with a heat index of approximately 105 degrees. Ouch! HOT! Yucky; Muggy; Sticky, etc. I could go on all day describing the summer months down here. Sorry... I digress.

My plan to achieve this goal is to run 3-4 times per week (3x during the week and a longer run on the weekends). My bright idea (although Brian practically fell on the floor laughing at me as he tried to figure out if I was really serious) was to go on my runs before Brian leaves for work in the AM. What time is that you ask? Brian leaves the house at 5:30 AM. Huh. Michelle did the math. That really means: alarm goes off at 4:30, out the door in less than 10 minutes, 30-40 minute run, and back with about 10 minutes to spare so I can catch my breath, cool down and kiss him goodbye. NOW, to me... it sounds do-able. To Brian... he doesn't think I have the will power to get my cozy butt out of bed at that insane hour when I'm on summer vacation. WELL... we will just have to see about those doubts.

I will tell you that today's running plan was a complete fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants decision. Since my two munchkins are up quite early each morning (we were all up before 5:30AM today) and Thomas was ready to get dressed soon after, I figured I would go running with them in the running stroller. FYI - if you are going running with or without kids, you really do want to be done by 8 or 8:30 AM or it just is unbearable. So... we loaded things up and headed out the door. I had snacks, breakfast bars, water for me, drinks for them and we were set. I thought I would just do a 3 mile run (1/2 down and 1/2 back). But as we were getting all buckled in while we were in the garage, Thomas & I talked about running to Grannie & Poppie's house. I figured that was only 4.2 miles away - NO PROBLEM, right? I was playing a mental game with myself.

I'll keep this story short. I felt great the entire run and the kids did great. It was definately getting HOT the last 1/2 mile or so, but we prevailed. Thomas was just so excited we were heading over to their house, he didn't care that how sticky it was. BUT, it turns out that Poppie wasn't home when we got there. The one and only day that I have a spur of the moment idea to RUN to their house (and ultimately will need a ride back because of the heat & the kids) - he had gone fishing with a neighbor of his. Oh Heck! At least we had a key, so we went in enjoyed a little breakfast and a Disney movie and just relaxed for about 1.5 hours before my girlfriend Lisa drove us home. Note to self, Michelle... call before you run.

So... back to the running part of this story. I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult (especially pushing two munchkins in the running stroller), but I guess that goes to show you that my endurance & my level of fitness has improved more than I thought. I bet that mile-high CO running did me some good after all. Anyway - going to try and wake up to that early alarm tomorrow morning before the rest of the house is awake. Wish me luck.