Night time running

Last night, after a nice day of Christmas shopping and getting my car washed (finally!), I went for a night run! I have been asking (or bugging) Paul a lot recently to go out for a walk one night to see all the Christmas lights around his neighborhood. Apparently his area of Long Island is a little over the top with the decorations. Going for a run was the perfect solution, we both got our runs in and I got to see my decorations! It also was the perfect night to go out because it was still around 45 degrees out.

A couple of tips for night time running:

• Wear something bright so cars can see you. I had on black pants and a black underarmour shirt on, but threw on my lululemon purple zip up to stay warm and to make sure any cars could see me.
• Run on the sidewalk if you can. I was lucky enough to be able to stay on the side walk for my whole run. It makes you feel that much safer when running in the dark, and the drivers are less pissed at you.
• Bring your phone. I run with my phone anyways because it's how I listen to my music. At night though, it's nice to have in case anything happens you can easily call for help and etc.
• Run with someone else. While Paul and I run different paces, we ran the same loop near his house so I knew he was near me for most of the run. I knew he would lap me a few times, but liked the thought that if either of us didn't see the other for a few laps we would know something was wrong. It's nice to have that extra feeling of safety.
• Run at Christmas time!  It is so much more fun when you can go running and look at all the lights.

Here are some of the places I took pictures of on my run.

 Love! 

Sorry for the blur, I was running! 

A little intense

 They had the lights professionally done...

Same house, professionally done...

 I hate these things!

 Cute little Christmas trees :)

 Love!!!

I'm super picky about my Christmas lights. I dislike ridiculous plastic Santa's and etc on the lawn. I dislike when people don't put up lights. I HATE when people put of little plastic blow up things or when they put out something non-Christmas related and throw a Santa hat on it. I also dislike anything that flashes intensely. I don't need a seizure while driving. I love all white lights. I like whenever people put effort into decorating in general though. Crazy lights are better than not decorating at all.

I may attempt a run after work today depending on how late I leave work. That way I can see some of the lights around my house.

Happy Tuesday everyone!