Don’t these flip-flops make you happy that summer is finally here!?! (c) Stacey Cooper

Today is officially the first day of summer, literally one of my days of the year. I love summer so much. I got a whole bunch of new flip-flops to celebrate. New colorful flip-flops are always a good thing and just in time for the first heat wave of the summer here in NYC.

Although the new flip-flops are squeaking more than flip, flopping when I walk. I have now learned that flip-flops need to be broken in like running shoes.

One of the things I really loved doing was running in the evening during the summer. Not only did it feel great but I also looked super hard core for being one of the few people getting your miles in when people were soaking up the AC. I’m also sure I looked insane to many of those same people sitting in their huge carbon footprint AC filled cars.

But alas, with my mother’s continued illness, running in the evening just isn’t in the cards these days so I have been left with my early morning runs. You will be glad to know that my body is finally getting used to the idea of popping out of bed at 5:00 am and hitting the street. I am even beginning to enjoy it. I can’t believe I just wrote that.

These are indeed happy running at 5:00 am feet. (c) Stacey Cooper

I was even a little happy that I would be able to brag that I got my run in this morning while others would be dreading about having to run this evening.

One of the things I have noticed is that I am a little slower when I run that early in the morning. Maybe it’s the fact that my body is still getting used to waking up consistently at 5:00 am or that maybe I need some pre-run fuel.

This morning my legs felt super heavy and only started to feel a bit better near the end of my run. Instead of trying to speed through those miles I attempted to try and get a feel for my long run pace. But overall I do feel more awake when I get back to my house and get ready for work, although I am thankful for the 40 minute nap I get to take on my train ride into the city.

Also, this whole waking up super early in the morning thing gives me a great excuse for going to bed early. I seriously love my bed and I hope all of you can rest easy knowing that little fact.

I’ve got one more early morning run planned for this week and that will be three consecutive days that I have gotten up at 5:00 am to run. With the Pride Run on Saturday, I’ll be taking a rest day on Friday and reward myself by sleeping in until 6:00 am.

After the Pride Run I’ll start boring you with a whole new round of marathon training!