Astronomical Run

Yesterday, when I read that there would be a meteor shower that night, I got so excited. It seems like I always miss cool things happening. So when I discovered ahead of time that the Perseid Meteor Shower would soon take place, I made plans to watch. Now I'm not really into astronomy or anything, but to my knowledge, I've never seen a meteor shower and every picture I've seen of one looks totally awesome.

When my alarm went off at 4:00am, I got up, made a pot of coffee and took a cup outside to watch the big show in the sky. Luckily, my husband Greg, is a very early riser and usually wakes up at 4:30 or so anyway, (insane, isn't he?) which meant I had some company. Sadly, it wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped due to the brightness of the almost full moon, Memphis smog and a cloudy sky. I was sure longing to be at my parents house out in the country, where the stars are so bright and numerous that when I go home for a visit and look up, I'm startled and reminded of just how amazing the night sky really is. However, the meteor shower viewing wasn't a total bust because I saw two meteors falling fast and quite a few slower moving ones. It was satisfying enough that I don't regret losing that extra hour of sleep.

And anyway Coach Hal told me that I had to get in a 5 miler today and so when I started my run at 5:15 it was still dark and I was able to watch the sky for just a bit longer. It made for a very memorable run. I felt good, the humidity was lower and I listened to a great music mix comprised from my brother Logan's collection of 35,000 songs on itunes!!!! I'm not even kidding. I hadn't even heard of half the artists and bands on his list, but fortunately he has good taste in music and is also a runner (and also training for the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis), which means he was able to recommend good running songs. My favorite so far is from a French music duo/band called Air. Good stuff. Here is what Logan said about Air: "Oooh here, you definitely need some Air. Air will give you a running high when you aren't even running." Hehehe.