Not my typical morning run.
On days when I haul my butt out of bed at 5 a.m. and get out for an early morning run, I have lots of energy the rest of the day and can even stay up a little longer in the evenings. On days when I can’t manage to get rolling early and when I don’t go for a run, I have much less energy and frequently must go to bed early. We hear that it’s the exercise that causes us to be more focused and alert for the rest of the day, but I wonder:
Is the geting-up-early-and-running the cause of my later-in -the-day energy, or is it merely an effect of my having more energy? That is to say, I’m skeptical that it’s the exercise that’s doing it for me. Being able to exercise early in the morning seems more predictive than generative of energy and focus. Whatever! It’s getting sunny so I’d better hit the road before it gets too hot to run.
Memento mori, friends!
What is your experience?
If you’re looking for other means by which to avoid your exercise routine, why not click on over to Nursing Clio for their Sunday Morning Medicine round-up, featuring 85 years of Nancy Drew (including a shout-out to University of Wisconsin historian Nan Enstad) and a 1690s London advice column featuring this Edgar Allen Poe-esque setup:
Q. My father had a dog, which he kept a great many years, in which time I had two brothers and one sister that died. And it was observed that this dog—always the day before they died—went about a hundred yards from the house and laid his nose towards the church where they were all buried, and howled in a strange, hideous manner for an hour or more at a time. And when my father died, he did the same. Now it seems as if this dog had some prophetic, or what to call it, knowledge in these matters.
(Does the caller have a question?)
NC also links to an article on the letters that Martha Washington didn’t burn which contains the astonishing fact that most of the Washington family papers–as opposed to the Papers of George Washington–have never been published! Who knew? As someone who writes about women much, much more obscure than Martha Washington, I’ve assumed that all of the so-called “Founding Fathers”‘s First Ladies had had their due (except Deborah Read Franklin, of course), but it just goes to show you: fame is no defense against being patronized and dismissed as historical subjects!
To quote my husband recently on the subject of other physicians: “I [effin'] hate my tribe.” But I love to run! Let’s all do what we enjoy in the fresh air and sunshine, friends–as I’ve said before and I’ll say again too soon, I’m sure: it’s a short movie.