Run Luau Run

I’m pretty sure I’ve made this clear: I am NOT a morning person. I do NOT like getting up early. If left to my own devices with no responsibilities, I would sleep until 9 or 10 every morning. It could be my biology or maybe the remnants of my hard drinking college days, but I like to stay up late and wake up late.  Until a few weeks ago, I’m pretty sure I had gone to bed at 4:45 AM more often that I had woken up at that time.

That said, I love the early morning runs.  Actually, check that.  The pre-dawn runs themselves have varied, from the blissful to the “please let me sustain an injury RIGHT NOW”.  I don’t always have the enthusiasm or drive to do them.  I am always glad when I do, no matter how miserable the run itself ends up being.  I love the feeling I get after the early morning runs.  That is because for the rest of the day I feel like I’m playing with house money.

Have you ever gone to a casino and won a few hundred bucks early?  When I do, I tend to put my original bankroll back into my pocket and happily play with the house’s money for the rest of the evening.  That, to me, is what the early morning run is.  It’s winning a bunch of hands early at the blackjack table and putting my original stake away.  I’ve produced a significant caloric deficit AND jolted the metabolism into high gear.  After the early morning runs I can essentially munch on whatever I want for the rest of the day.  There’s a freedom in that, and I think that freedom actually keeps me from eating whatever I want.

Truth is, I eat fairly healthfully anyway, but it’s knowing that I am essentially playing with the house’s money for the rest of the day that is so gratifying.  The coolest thing about the early morning run is that it’s not a gamble like blackjack or roulette.  It’s like knowing what the cards are before they are dealt.  If you run, you win – every time!