One of the things I learned in the Marines was what we called "night movement." Of course, back in the 1990's, when I was in the Corps, the kinds of night vision devices in use today were much less common. Instead, we simply learned to place our feet carefully and keep our biological night vision strong.
I remember one particular training evolution down in Georgia... my Fire Team was tasked with moving quickly, quietly, and with violent purpose up the flank of a suspected enemy scouting party. It was probably close to midnight when we slipped into the trees to parallel the road under full cover of both night and the forest. Somehow, though, we got disoriented and ended up bypassing the scouting party and continuing deep into the Georgia woods... After several misadventures, we made it (finally) back to our company's position by 06:30 or so. Our Fire Team leader was forever known, after that night, as Corporal Compass.
So, why tell that story? Because tonight I got home later than I wanted to, but felt the need to get out on the course for some walk/jog time... The sun was fully down, and I'd say we were well into dusk, if not the tail end of dusk when I set out on the course. I had a small flashlight in my pocket, but I found that my night vision came in pretty well, aided by a fat waxing gibbous moon. I did a walk loop, a jog loop, then two more walk loops. It felt good, actually... I never felt like I would lose my footing, although I did get smacked in the face a couple times by low hanging pine and spruce twigs.
The nice thing was that my run felt a little stronger than the last time... not faster necessarily, but I didn't have to stop on the steep part! These are the "mini victories" that I need to stay motivated, so it's important to find them whenever I can.
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