It was 4:30am the other morning – dark, wet and an icy cold wind in the air. I was out running and drenched by the time I got 500m down the street.

It’s times like these when you question why you aren’t curled up in bed.

I knew why. It’s because when you’re on the start line of a race, you remember one of two things. Either the sessions you neglected to do out of choice, or the sessions you did that were difficult to get done. That little piece of mind that comes with knowing you’ve done the work pays dividends come race day.

There was once a running shoe ad featuring Steve “Mona” Moneghetti (famous Australian distance runner) on his early morning run. It said something along the lines of “whilst you’re out running in the dark, so is Mona”. I thought about that, and still think about that, just about every morning I run.

So tomorrow morning when you’re out running. So am I. And probably Mona too, somewhere.