When the night has come

"And the land is dark / And the moon is the only light we'll see."

Even a half moon on a cloudy night is amazingly bright when the ground is covered in snow. So it was at 2:45 this morning when I headed out. Why was I running at quarter to 3 in the morning in the middle of winter? Not sure I can answer that adequately. This much I know: Wednesday is a run day; I was awake, having watched "1408" for the fourth time in the past six months; and, to quote my old college buddy Les Plume, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

I figured I could run and then hit the hay rather than vice versa. Somehow that seemed a better plan than sleeping then running. Can't explain it.

The Wells Fargo drive-thru on North Prairie
Street shines brightly in the night. Why?

 The down side is that conditions and circumstances led me to resign myself to a straight run -- no photos, no video, no picking up trash; I didn't even look for stuff. I just ran. It was cold and night and I just wanted to get it done. The up side? Virtually no traffic. I was passed by maybe three vehicles, even counting the stretch of Henderson Street, one of Galesburg's busiest thoroughfares. That was really nice. I'm sure the few drivers who saw me, though, were puzzled by the appearance of a runner in the night.

For lack of anything to post from the run, I'll share some phone photos shot from my bike the past few nights. A couple kind of contradict today's opening lyrics, but I'm sure you'll forgive me.

The Holiday Inn Express is where my friend
Chris stayed when he would come to town.
The purple lights make me think of him, too,
because his middle school nickname was
"Purple," I think because he wore it a lot.

Today's Stats

Temp: 16 degrees F

Distance: 4.65 miles

Weekly Total: 10.15 miles

Treasure: Nothing but peace.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Black and White People - Matchbox Twenty

I Don't Wanna - The Call

Anything But Ordinary - Avril Lavigne

Hold On To The Nights - Richard Marx

Oh Girl - Paul Young

Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd

Love Song For No One (live) - John Mayer

Interlude No. 1/Play It All Night Long - Warren Zevon

Hung Up On You - Fountains of Wayne

Ghost Train - Counting Crows

No Better Place - Fountains of Wayne