The 4AM patrol (July 5)

Let us just say that I do not react well to loud, successive explosions.  Sure it is just the 4th of July and people like to celebrate with fireworks, it is understandable.  A career of dodging similar sounds...  it was a bad weekend.  I got about 4 hours of total sleep.  The thing is, in other places, explosions mean you are up preparing for the next bit, and at 150% alertness for 2-4 hours AFTER each additional explosion.

Bottle Rockets = incoming artillery
multi-explosive color wheels = incoming zip rockets
firecrackers = eerily familiar to AK-47 or SKS bursts
then there are the roses = sound like friendly flares, starclusters usually marking shift-fires or signal flares
cherry bombs = grenades or RPG impacts

Of course where I live, people are not real considerate on any count and this mischief goes on until 2 or 3 in the morning.

So for the Fourth this year, as the Sun crawled behind the mountains, I put myself out for the night early.  I ran a loud fan and tv for background noise to help dampen the 'outside activity' that had kept me from sleeping all weekend.  It worked.

I woke up around 4.  It was some pretty good sleep all things considered.  I was not pulled from sleep by noise, which was precisely my point after all.  I figured, I had taken a weekend off, no time is better for a run than right now.  I pulled out the gear, and went out the door.

It was only about a 4 mile run, but it felt good.  Cool summer air, it was dark, and no one was out - not yet.  A few cops passed me as I trotted down the sidewalks in my unconventional gear.  There is always something surreal about that.  I have an old "torch" flashlight, that will blind the jeepers out of about anyone or anything.  It is an effective thing to have.  It happens to not be dangerous by most standards and can double as something else in a pinch.  By the last mile, I had attracted the steady interest of the cops.  After the 4th pass, and they slow down as they pass me, you know you are being watched.  Frankly a little funny.  It must have been the almost all black get-up.  But I carry ID, in case they decide to be more curious.  I can't say that I blame them, the area is crawling with with, misguided teenagers.  I used to be one myself.

At the end, it felt good.  A solid workout.  The stamina of the core muscles continues to improve.  There will always be the latent soreness and what not.  It is what it is.  But that is to be expected, I know this whole venture is going to just hurt on many days.  The nature of things.