Wake up early if you want to avoid the heat.

It has been a few weeks since I posted any comments. I have been running twice a week and see some definite progress.
Midweek I run in my neighborhood which provides plenty of hills. Saturdays, I have been meeting up with the Arlington Road Runners at Gateway Park. This past weekend, however, I decided that the road runners leave a little too late in the morning. They gather at 6 a.m. and by the time the groups head out it is already getting a bit too warm for me. This past Saturday I left the house at  5 a.m., ran over to the C&O canal at Chain Bridge and ran to Georgetown and back.  I think I ran close to 9 miles and thanks to my new ipod shuffle, cool temps and flat ground I had a great time. I didn't even need to carry water, as it is not too hot when you go out that early and it started to get light soon after I began. Yes, after waking at 4:30 a.m., I must admit that I was a little tired later that morning, but I had the rest of the day to catch up on my sleep and enjoyed a couple of short and delicious catnaps. I just treated the remainder of the day as a day of rest which is something that we all can use one day of the week. 
After years of not running I thought it would take much longer to come back, but I see real progress and I am enjoying this very much. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can  continue without injury. I am pretty happy that I am doing this. The first step out the door is always the hardest.   
We are lucky that we live in a great place for running.