Who needs a gym on a day like this?

There are plenty of reasons to avoid running in the morning. Here's one reason not to:

Feeling utterly guilty for my "no sun, no run" mentality last week, I felt compelled to get up early and run this morning. How could I not? I mean, LOOK OUTSIDE.

I've had trouble running in the mornings - I run out of energy after 10 minutes. For a while I couldn't understand it - my Thursday evening runs were going well.

Other than time of time day, what's the big difference? Food.

I'm just not hungry in the morning. A cup of coffee suits me just fine (until 10:00 a.m., of course, when the all-day grazing officially begins). I discovered during the Sea Dogs 5K that coffee isn't a good running fuel.

By the time 6:00 p.m. rolls around on Thursday, I've eaten the edible equivalent of a Volkswagen. And even though what I choose to consume might not be the most ideal, it still makes quite a difference.

So this morning I ate half a bagel and drank some water before I went out and wow what difference.

Lesson learned: My anorexic college roommate was wrong. Food IS my friend.