The early bird

It's always hard when the alarm clock goes off and the bedroom is still dark. I can say this with absolute confidence because during the school year, I greet the day at 5:30 six days a week. I don't hop out of bed with a smile on my face-- I grumble and groan and try to make excuses to get back in bed.

Yesterday I met Suzanne for our first Wander Lane run of the school year. I run with Suzanne two or three mornings a week for most of the year, but we've been hit or miss (mostly miss) this summer, so it was great to catch up with her and wave to all the familiar faces we see on our regular runs. But I'm sure that we'd both admit that we were a little tired, and if pushed hard enough we'd probably even admit that we'd rather be in bed (if these darn bodies would just stay skinny without exercise!).

Then we turned around a corner and caught a break in the trees and saw this:

Suddenly I was glad to be up early, glad to be one of the fortunate few who could witness this beautiful sunrise, glad to have a healthy body that feels strong, glad to have good friends to share the moment with.