Running Astronomy

There was a beautiful sky full of stars and a waning gibbous moon during Thursday morning's run. Most of my workday runs start about 4AM, so I get to see the night sky pretty often. I start each run with a short walk, usually looking up at the stars. I think after being at sea on a darkened warship, you can't help but develop an appreciation of the night sky. Orion was easily visible as well as Sirius near the end of the run, well above the horizon, yesterday morning. When Orion and Sirius appear, I know it's time to get serious about marathon training. During 18-weeks of training Orion and his dog shine over each morning run. By the time the Houston marathon comes around, Orion and Sirius have traveled from the eastern sky to the western horizon. It was even a little cooler yesterday morning, not much over 76°F. My ankle continues to feel fine, so I'm trying to ramp back up as quickly as I can without aggravating it.

I ordered a pair of Adidas Rotterdams today. I can't wait to retire my current shoes. Signing up ($$) for the Houston marathon is next.

Tuesday morning's lunar eclipse was really cool. I missed reading about the eclipse before Tuesday, so I was really surprised when I looked up and saw only half a moon. I thought for sure it was supposed to be a full moon, but this was my first pre-dawn run for over a week. But the moon was in the Western sky, so I suspected an eclipse. By the time my run was over, the moon was nearly fully eclipsed and had that surreal earth-glow. Pretty cool.