The days are lovely, dark, and deep

Today is December 18, 2013.  In Hartford, Connecticut the sun will rise at 7:13 a.m. and set at 4:22 p.m. for a total of 9 hours, 8 minutes and 47 seconds of daylight. Sixty-three percent of the day is dark.  Its dark when I wake up, many times its dark when I leave for to work, and its most definitely dark when I come home.   The darkness can almost feel overwhelming. 

The first time I really noticed how short the days are in winter was during my freshman year at Dartmouth.  In late December there were only 8 hours and 58 minutes of daylight in Hanover, New Hampshire.  Seeing that I had trouble waking up before 10 a.m. at that point in my life, I was only awake for 5 hours of sunlight per day.  Since then I have come to dread the Fall Equinox, knowing that the next three months will bring a succession of shorter and shorter days.  Its not so much Seasonal Affective Disorder ("SAD") -- as a side note SAD is a great acronym -- as it is simply missing the sunshine.  It just seems like there's more time to the day when there are more hours of daylight.  December it seems may be the worst month for simply getting things done.

Its not that I don't like the winter, I love snow, I like running in cold and I don't mind riding on my trainer for hours (seeing that I like flat bikes, racing is not that different from spending hours on the trainer).  This winter I am trying to manage the lack of light.  I purchased a Sun Therapy Lamp that I use every morning and I am trying to get outisde as much as possible.  I'm also trying to be postive, starting Sunday the days start getting longer and before I know it I'll be both waking up and going to bed while the sun is shining.  Until then, I'll be thinking of my time in the Turk and Caicos where there was more sun than anyone can possibly need.