To morning run, or no to? This is the question.

I have a dilemma.  

Morning run.... or night run?  

Given my schedule, between work and Miss Z, my day is typically taken up between 0700 and 2000 hours (roughly; we could give or take an hour on each side from time to time).  

My problem here isn't the time available to run, but the motivation to do so.  Yes, its a pastime for me.  Its more than that, really.  There is a crazy sense of achievement that is gained from a benchmark distance, or a PR time for any given run.  But even more than that, there is simply the enjoyment of going, and the satisfaction of completing a run.  

Motivation is a key factor.  Not desire.  Desire is always there.  Motivation comes and goes like the tides influence by the moon.  Some days its high, some days its low.  And the time of day typically has a lot to do with this.  

Lets take a look at a typical day:

I'm up around 0630.  Shower and shave, and morning coffee while under assault from the cat who has been sleeping all night and now is ready for action (far more than I am).  Perhaps there is some clothes ironing in here as well, which is also done under assault.  However, the iron has the mister, which becomes my weapon of choice to keep the cat at bay.  Work starts at 0800, and concludes at 1600.  Miss Z takes up my time for the remainder of the evening, and my free time begins somewhere in the area of 1900-2100.  

Now, if I were to run right after work, which is actually my preference, I would take Miss Z with me.  She loves a cruise in the jogger.  And we manage to go all over the place.  But its winter time, and cold and rainy, and a 5 or 6 mile run isn't not exactly in the cards with a Little in the jogger.  So I am left to a later run.  Now, I do not enjoy running on a full stomach, so this means I am eating much later, sometimes as late as 2200.  And then a shower after, and now I'm wide awake at midnight or later.  Lame.  

For a morning run, its simply the fact I would need to be awake at 0500.  Also lame.  

Regardless of the time of the run, its downright cold these days.  So that's a constant in this particular scenario.   But I have layers to wear, so that's no particular excuse either.  But I can already feel how its going to go in the morning:

Boom!! The alarm goes off.  And I turn it off and roll over and go back to sleep.  Then because I have no other alarm set I oversleep and I'm late for work.  

I know how I operate in the mornings.  I have 3 different alarms set, and sometimes that's not even enough.   When the various alarms all go off before 0600 and you don't manage to roll your ass out of bed until 0700, that's a dangerous things.  My saving grace here is that I typically have my shirts and pants pre-ironed and hung up.  So I don't mind the late get up.  a quick shower and shave and I'm ready to roll.  I usually even have time to brew a cup of coffee and actually enjoy it.  I can accomplish quite a bit in the 40 minutes before I head out the door.  

Now, on a side note, I was just outside.  And its crazy cold.  I was planning for a chilly morning.  But I don't know I'm completely stoked on the forecasted 36 degree temps tomorrow morning. 

0800 Update:  Complete failure  this morning.  In fact, I two things failed this morning:

1. I failed to set my alarm in the first place.  
2. I didn't even roll out of bed until 0710.

Its entirely possible I am destined for the evening/night runs.