What is runner’s obsession with running at the crack of dawn?

The part I find funny is how unflexible people are with their running times. I have 2 small children so my runs are done really early (4am) or really late (9/10pm). The cult of the early morning risers is much stronger than the late night runners

why is that a sad thing? dont do it if you dont want to lol

Some of the worst people I know do this.

It is practical to run early. I used to fret all day, "will I get a run in today?"

As a young man I was a drinker... running early was not an option! I just like it much better, to run upon waking.

What a dumb thread OP.

Do you complain about races starting at 7am because you can’t wake up? Never mind, you don’t train nor race.

Not the norm at all.

Nothing about running in the morning requires you to be dehydrated and underfueled.

The tank doesn't empty overnight. Liver glycogen drops, but muscle glycogen doesn't. Unless you have a terrible diet, you should be fine for 90 minutes without doing anything special. If you're going longer, then just make sure you have more carbs the night before. It's actually better this way because you won't have undigested food sitting in your gut. I rarely have more than a cup of coffee with sugar before marathons.

As for hydration, again, unless you're chronically dehydrated, you can have a glass when you wake up and you're good to go.

Come try and train in west palm beach between March and November and you’ll understand

You have the whole day ahead of you if you are a night owl who cannot possibly fall asleep before midnight without copious amounts of Nyquil. I'll run at 7am if I have to due to my schedule, but the times I run in the morning are much slower for the same effort level compared to runs later in the day.

It’s not just running. A lot of people go to the gym early too. I would say for a lot of people it’s a discipline thing. Get your workout in early and you’ll be less likely to find an excuse later in the day not to train.

When I am teaching/coaching during the school year yes I get up between 4 and 4:30 to get my run in.... feel way better when I run first thing in AM.. when left to my own devices I get up between 6 and 7 and run between 7 and 8. I just feel better when one of the first things I do each day is exercise!! and I am neither right nor wrong.. It's just what works for me.

Those who like to run in the pm are just plain wrong. Nothing like getting it done early. They haven’t tried it hard enough in the am.

If you saw Dawn's crack you'd run there too!!

It's harder for me to sleep at night. I'm not sacrificing my sleep and run in the evening instead. You just deal with the heat and humidity. Runners will always complain about running conditions anyways, whether it's morning or evening.

I liked to start my run (in the nearby woods) just before dawn. The early morning is the most beautiful and peaceful part of the day. It's nice to watch the dark slowly turn light. It has nothing to do with getting the run out of the way. That sounds like running is work, not fun. For me I ran because it was fun, especially running on trails. It's like being a kid again outside playing. Even after I retired I got up at 5:30 and hit the trails just before dawn. The sound of birds and creeks beats the sound of people and cars. I have to admit I've always been an introvert and loner. Still, even though I'm a loner, some mornings I ran with three other guys and a woman. One a Marine Biologist, one a house appraiser, one a College Professor, and a nurse. We had some pretty interesting conversations. Sometimes we didn't talk at all.

you’ll find the biggest blowhards at local 7am weekday runs. Talking the types who lean into running for their entire personality yet have slow PRs (17 minutes for 5k at 32 years old). The actually chill / good runners either do the 6/7pm runs during the summer or just show up for on occasion for a weekend long run. I’ve lived in three cities and this has been the case every time.

Most adults with families and careers, you just have to get it in when you can. It's that simple. For other's I don't see an issue running when you feel comfortable doing so. One thing I will say is that whatever time slot (morning, evening, night) you decide you should try and stick with it so your body has close to 24 hours to recover. I'd imagine that's why pro's stick with sometime in the morning because road races are in the morning and gets the internal clock working and recovery

Get out of here with this bull junk.

Not entirely clear whether the goal of the thread is to (a) learn more about why some people run in the morning, or (b) berate people who have different preferences. In case it's the former, some thoughts:

- Some people are early birds, others are night owls (and most are somewhere in between). I have a reasonably neutral chronotype, but lean toward waking up early. The only time I ever wake up to an alarm is if I have a super early flight. So even on weekends, running at 7am isn't a "gotta get up early to get the run in" thing. It's just when I'm awake, dressed, pooped, and ready to run.

- The OP offered an exception to people with kids, and it's true that having a couple of young kids is part of the reason I need to get my run done early. But even aside from kids, my days are pretty full. Work, errands, hobbies, social life... sometimes I'll have a 90-minute window of nothing available later in the day, other times I won't -- or I'll have to cut some other fun thing short in order to make time to run. I'd rather run when there's nothing else going on.

- Back in college, we worked out in the afternoons, and I was fine with that. Running was the main focus of my day, and I reserved some mental and emotional energy to get a good run in. These days, other things are more important to me, so when I do run in the afternoon I generally feel pretty flat and depleted. Running in the morning lets me get higher quality training in.

- Lots of this stuff is highly subjective - it's when I happen to feel good, and others might have a completely different experience. However, there's actually research showing that morning chronotypes are overrepresented in sports like running and triathlon and swimming, presumably because they involve so many early mornings for racing and (in some cases) training. So the OP may be onto something here. Maybe there's an untapped population of people who would stick with running if there were more group training options later in the day.