Daylight savings occurred a couple of weeks ago now, and there are some happy runners and also some unhappy runners. I have been on runs with friends over the years, and depending on their schedule, the runs were at 6:30 a.m. or 6:30 p.m. The morning runs were the most frequent and usually ran in the dark of the morning. We usually ran out at Country Estates for a four-mile run. As the months went by, the light of dawn started to make the runs a little easier, and we could see our surroundings. Just as we were getting to enjoy the sun coming up on the horizon, daylight savings arrived and we were back to the dark morning light. We were the unhappy runners during that time period.
The evening runs were just the opposite. Most of my evening runs were at 7 p.m. after a weight lifting session. We ran a mile or two to get the aerobic fitness in. Since it was dark we tried to run on the sidewalks as much as possible. The trouble with sidewalks in the dark versus the paved road was the hazards of uneven cracks, low hanging branches and trees growing in the middle of the sidewalk. The solution was to run on the less traveled roads with very little traffic. We wore white shirts that were better for cars to see us. We also ran against traffic, so if the car didn’t see us, we saw the car and could move over. Daylight Savings time ensured that running occurred in the sun, so we were happy.
There was a period of time when my running partner was a radio station disc jockey for the 6 a.m. crowd. We ran between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. The best part of that run on roads was the street lights were still on and helped visibility. The one run I recall, we were heading down Wonder World and a runner came running out of the dark going the other way. We were not the only crazy runners that night. We knew each other, and he turned and ran with us for the remainder of the run. This was back before it became a major road with stores on both sides of the run. Street lights were the main light back then.
