It gets dark earlier now

That's no surprise to anybody. We are half way between the longest day of the year, June 21 where it stays light until 10:00pm and the shortest day, December 21, where it's dark at 5:00 pm. If you don't want to run in the dark, time to run is getting scarce. Well that is if you have a full time job or two.

I did think last night that if I left at 7:00pm, It would still be reasonable at 7:45 when I was done. Not so much.

Here's an article from Active.com. 3 tips to stay safe while running in the dark.

I did my 3.5 miles at a 14:45 pace. Meh. Not as fast as I was. I'm back at a C25K week 2 ish. That really sucks. But it is a plan. I will just follow the plan and I will improve. AGAIN. I don't think I'll get down to my 13:20ish pace for the 10k, but I will finish in 1:30:00.

So back to the fact that it was dark on my run last night. There are creatures out in the dark. I was out minding my own business jogging along when all of a sudden I saw this thing moving in the grass.

"ACK! What's that?"
"OMG! It's a puppy"
"Where do you belong, puppy?"

With that he looked at me, started barking in his little chihuahua voice and ran back to his house.

I won't even bother talking about people that let their little bitty dogs out in the dark, off leash, on a suburban street, where they can get run over.

Off to running I was again. I got around a corner and there is something else crouched in the grass.

"Cripes! What the hell is that?"
"Oh FFS, it's a stupid cat."

Now I'm just paranoid. The dark is starting to get to me. UGH!

I keep running, and I'm going up a hill. OK. I'm walking at this point. And I see three guys running toward me. In the dark. I'm done for. Did I mention I run alone?

Then I recognize the running form of one of the runners. He's somebody I see on my runs regularly. He has a really unique running form.

"Phew. Don't think I'm being murdered today."

And with that, I think I'll start running before supper instead of after.