Another day closer

...to waking up with the sun.

Today was more of the same, stupid 12-8 am schedule, followed up by a 5 mile run at Fermilab. This time we were both feeling pretty good up until about 6 am (the breakdown time gets a bit later each day) when we both started to crash. For me this mostly meant just closing my eyes for a bit, but Leah mentioned that she was feeling sort of bad. This is likely a product of being three stories below ground for eight hours.

But, when 8 o'clock rolled around, we were out the door and into the fresh air. Once the non-recycled air hit our lung, the natural high took hold and the run went really well. The loop was really similar to yesterdays with just a few less twists and turns to reduce it by a mile. It is getting pretty exciting to rip off three medium distances in a row with little trouble. I'm not sure if we've ever done 15 miles in three days without one of those runs being a long run.

We were talking as we ran about how annoying this shift was and how we felt like crap once the sun crested the horizon. We figured it was all just so weird: we have a big ol' bowl of spaghetti when we wake up (for "breakfast") and a bowl of cereal before bed and...

That is when it struck us that something was missing. We weren't eating lunch! Sure, we had lots of snacks at work (as it turns out, Jello Pudding snacks are really, really delicious and low in fat) but there was a definite sandwich void. That is, like, hundreds of calories that we are missing out on. Dammit, I run for a reason! Give me my calories!

Well, we are not the types to miss meals regardless of the circumstances, so we are going to take a bagel or something like that for a 5 am snack. I'm predicting there will be an energy spike towards the end of the shift tomorrow that will help us through those tough end-hours.

Tomorrow is our last run at Fermi, an easy 3 miles, and then we are going to run in Chicago again over the weekend as there will be no reason to stay at work to avoid traffic. As okay as these Fermilab runs have been, I pine for the lakefront. And, of course, for the end of this idiotic schedule.