Insomnia

Staying true to being an insomniac, it is 2:45 a.m. and I can't sleep. I've been wide awake for about an hour now and am just waiting to fall asleep. If the past is any indicator, I'll probably fall asleep around 6 a.m. and have to wake up around 7 a.m. to get ready for work.

I had a stretch of time in November, when I took a break from running, when I felt like I could get a gold medal in sleeping. It felt good and I had lots of energy too!

I'm ramping up my mileage to prepare for the new inaugural Pasadena Marathon in March, and my insomnia is ramping up with it. I know this is a sign of overtraining. But I told myself that I would do this one marathon this year and take a break from marathons for a while.

But I've had this problem with insomnia for a long time and it's not just related to running. I remember asking my parents for a digital clock when I was about 7 years old because I wanted to be able to see what time it was when I woke up in the middle of the night. This was back when most people had bedroom clocks with clock faces, and digital clocks were relatively expensive. I got a digital clock for my birthday that year and discovered that I almost always wake up between 2 and 3 a.m.

I've had a lot of practice at being an insomniac. Imagine what I could have done in that sleepless time if I would have been a more productive insomniac...