Line up some entertainment. Cue up some new songs or download some podcasts to lighten your mood, if not your morning. Remind yourself it’s getting lighter a little earlier every day. You’ll be less likely to curse the darkness if you can see your way–and drivers can spot you.

Don’t pack away your reflective vest and Knuckle Lights quite yet. No, you’re not dreaming: Watching Damian Lewis in “Homeland” makes morning workouts a whole lot sweeter. Easier typed than done, we know, but be pro-active about protecting your sleep: Skip book group next week don’t offer to bake 30 cupcakes for your kid’s class read a book in bed instead of sitting in front of a glowing computer screen take Hyland’s Calms Forte or drink herbal tea to slow your racing brain to a jog. If you’re on a training plan (say, for instance, our half-marathon or 5K Finish It ones), juggle your workouts now so at least the first day of the work/school week a bit less rough. ( Right!? Hard to believe, but true.) Since being prepared is half the battle, here’s how to keep right on running next week and beyond. We shift clocks ahead an hour this Saturday night. But as a devoted morning runner, I loathe being plunged back into darkness after being treated to a few weeks of weak dawning light. As a parent (and a human being), I love when daylight lingers well past dinnertime. The weather can shift in a heartbeat–snow showers one minute, gusts of rain the next–and then there’s the whole “spring ahead, fall back” time shift thing. Eliot might have called April the cruelest month, but Dimity told me recently she thinks March is the hardest month to run in. Forget the Ides of March: It’s Daylight Savings Time you’ve got to beware this month!

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