This morning was the day of my morning running test. I psyched myself up before going to bed last night, mentally preparing myself for my alarm to blare at 5:15.

When it did, I felt pretty well-rested, but I still hit snooze once while I laid in bed thinking about the route I would run. Before the snooze alarm sounded, I was up.

I hustled to get dressed, grabbed Garmin and my iPod and was out the door.

Garmin decided to take his sweet old time finding satellites this morning. I eventually got sick of waiting and just started without him. He picked satellites up a minute or so later and from there on out things were good.

It's much cooler running in the mornings. I stuck with an out and back this morning on a well lit, heavily trafficked street since it was a bit overcast. On my way back home I passed some Army cadets who had just finished their group run. I smiled, said "good morning" and one of them cheered me on and told me to keep going.

I passed a few more, who must have fallen behind the group as I headed back home. They were all super friendly and offered a smile and a "hello." As did all the other morning runners out there.

Morning runners are a friendly bunch.

According to Garmin, I did 3.8 miles in 35:26. Solid.

I got home and went through all the motions of getting ready for a day at the office. I finished with plenty of time left to get to work on time. I'll be slowly making the morning running transition official in the coming weeks!

Cooking Challenge:
This week I was very much a grazer when it came to making dinner. I wasn't in the mood for something heavy, so I just picked at different things that were appealing and made random dinner platters that had a little bit of everything.

Take last night's for example:


What a complete hodge podge right?

Red raspberries
Half a PBJ with these delicious raspberry preserves


Pickle
Crackers and cheese

I was just in the mood for all of my favorite things last night and sometimes the dinner platter is just the way to go.

I'm working from home today and looking forward to the nice, long holiday weekend!

Happy Memorial Day!