Why I need to start running in the morning

Lately I have been short on sleep, and so I have been catching up the past few days by sleeping in.  All that aside, however, I am just not a morning person in general.  I far prefer to stay up late at night, accompanied by the cozy glow of a computer screen, and possibly a cat sticking his butt in my face or trying to drink out of my glass of water.

For these reasons I tend to run in the afternoon/evening, after I have come home from work, or after a leisurely weekend morning spent making and eating pancakes.  However, it is time to face the facts: I cannot run in the afternoon any longer, because it is too damn hot.

Today, according to Weather Underground, it was 92 degrees Fahrenheit when I decided, in all my foolishness, to go for a run.  Despite having a couple of large glasses of water before heading out, I was thirsty almost instantly.  I had decided to do just a short 5 km, but even though I chose a route that offered the best shady trees available, the sun still managed to reach down to me like a hammer.  I can't even imagine what it would have been like around noon, beating down mercilessly from directly overhead.

There was a slight breeze, and this did help to cool me off, along with the small breeze I generated by running, but really, it was futile.  Sweat dripped down my face, almost as if I were crying sunscreen-flavored tears, doing little to cool me off.  As I am a large person, it is easier for me to overheat than a smaller person, and this certainly disadvantages me on days like today.

Did I run all I meant to?  No.  I could think only of getting home and drinking some cool, fresh water, or at least as cool as I can get out of my apartment taps.  I did, however, shorten my run via tacking on a short leg of trail, so I did at least get some trail running practice in.

Now I sit inside, half-naked in front of the air conditioner.  Only 25 minutes spent running, but I feel as though it were twice as long.  Either I need to harden my body to high temperatures, or get up early in the morning.

It remains to be seen whether my distaste for heat can overcome my distaste for getting up early enough to run before work.  Even though it is still hot in the mornings, the difference between 92 and 75 is hardly trifling.  And yet, I don't know if that's really enough motivation to drag me out of my comfy bed when I don't absolutely have to be up that early.