The thing with training for a long distance race is trying to find enough hours in the day for a run, amongst everything else demanding your time.

Lunchtime doesn’t work. That’s when I want to eat lunch. And anyway, someone will probably ignore the blocked-out time in your calendar and book an important meeting for then. Evenings don’t work: I’m thinking of moving to compressed hours so need to work into the late evening.

Mornings work for me. It feels like my own time, a slice of the day for me and me only. But at this time of year, as sunrise gets later and later, you can find yourself running in the dark: an altogether discombobulating experience. Those legs don’t feel like your legs, even though you know they are.

In the iOS Weather app, you can find out when first light will be. That’s before the sun rises above the horizon but when it has started casting light in your part of Earth. Timing the start of your run for then makes everything more normal. Plus you get to see the sun rise.

First light is magical. As a younger, less sober person, first light had a damning, guilt-ridden effect. Now, as an older, more sober person, it exudes a more positive energy.

It’s nice how things change.