This is a way cool story about marathoner Tera Moody which I just read in the latest RunnersWorld issue. For those of you that don't have the print, RW now has the story also online. Don't miss out!"TERA MOODY is awake.
Posted on Facebook at 2:20 a. m.
The first digit on the clock is a four. The sky glows dark blue. There's not much going on. Nocturnal songbirds, the common poorwill, sing as they hunt, launching from wet grass to snare moths and grasshoppers illuminated by a crescent moon. One car in the distance slinks down a side street. That's about it for activity. It's late. It's night. Boulder, Colorado, is a town where people like to get up early to work out, yes. But not this early.
Just look inside the 24 Hour Fitness club off 28th Street. The place is cavernous, and it's empty. There is one woman climbing an elliptical machine, leaving 29 other machines free. There is one other woman over by the free weights, listlessly raising dumbbells while she stares at a television. Near her, an older man in a baggy blue T-shirt slumps over a bench as he flips through yesterday's paper; today's won't hit the streets for two more hours. The gym looks like a closed factory after the last shift, halogen lights reflecting off shiny steel bars that wait to be put to work.
There is one other person, in the back of the gym. At the far end of a row of 26 treadmills, one of the best female distance runners in America knocks out a 90-minute recovery run. She's well into it already. Her long legs switch over rapidly, her brown ponytail swaying with every stride. She pulls up the neck of her T-shirt to dab at the sweat rushing down her face. With her left hand she reaches for a plastic water bottle. With her right, she turns the page of a book. This woman doesn't like to be up this early. This woman would really like to be back in bed, actually, asleep like the rest of the city. She's working out because she's up. She's up because she can't help it. Tera Moody can't sleep..."
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