I hate running in the evenings. Runs of identical lengths feel completely different to me based on the time of day – or so I thought, but it might be even more arbitrary than that. Daylight Savings Time means that the sun sets around here at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and so what would have been an afternoon run this summer turned into a late evening run tonight. When that sun started heading toward the horizon, there I was with a stitch in my side, out of nowhere. What is up with that? And how am I ever going to consider doing an ultramarathon if I can’t run at night? 
I know a lot of people who hate running in the mornings, too, which is when I feel my best. If you’re one of those people, do you think it’s a clock thing or more of a mental issue? If you were accustomed to rising at that hour for reasons unrelated to running, do you think it would be as hard?
Sam’s off school this week, so I’ll likely be doing my runs before Eric leaves for work – stricter time limits, but I don’t mind starting early (usually 5:30 AM). Might have to stick in an extra mini-run midweek to make up for a few miles I’ll miss by not having the full lengths of running time I usually get.
For me, its just the dragging my rear out of my warm bed that early. Im sure if I was used to getting up at 5am, It wouldnt be that big a strech. I get the benefits of morning runs, but I’d rather do it at night than at the ass-crack of dawn.
Personally, I have horrible runs in the morning, no matter the time. 6am hurts just as badly as 4am. I have wonderful runs in the afternoons/evenings.
I used to run at 4:30am (in the winter, even!) and I never felt like it was a good run or that I ran well or even enjoyed it. The only thing I enjoyed was that it was OVER! When I run in the afternoons, I feel incredible and I can run harder and longer than I could if I had run in the morning.
For 15 years, running has been a priority in my day. With young kids, it was early mornings or never but now that I have a choice, I run when it’s better for my, physically.
Of course, I’m one of those people that has trouble at races because in general they are in the morning. So, I try and do a few morning runs every now and then but it’s so painful mentally and physically. What I’ve learned is that most runners are morning runners for many different reasons. I feel like an odd duck sometimes but you gotta do what works for you!