Maybe little Carla wakes up at 3 a.m. with a fever. That is your top priority, and you will be preoccupied with her for at least a few hours. Your 5:30 a.m. run is instantly a 'no-go.' Will you be able to squeeze it in later? Maybe, but there may be an unscheduled and unplanned doctor's appointment inserted into this day, too. Your run likely isn't going to happen.

Every day the number of runners grows, not by a few but by many, and that is a great thing, but every one of those runners will, one day - or many days, depending on the complexity of their life - have to cope with matters beyond their control preventing running. How will you cope when it happens? This is a critical topic because it's counter-productive and illogical to let running ever add stress to your life. Let's talk about this kind of situation.