First post-Arkansas run

I did my first run post-Arkansas this am, 7 easy miles.

Heres a puzzler for you. What is the worst time of year for me as far as dealing with darkness on my runs?

You might think either around Dec 21st (shortest days) or just before the end of daylight savings times, since I am running the longest before sunrise (I typically finish my weekday runs about 6:30 so I can shower before getting the kids up, dressed and to school).

In fact August/Septemeber and April/May seem to be the worst. Why? As the amount of vegeatation decreases, I get a lot more ambient light and can see the trails I run on better. I noticed today that despite finishing my run an hour prior to sunrise I could see pretty well even without my flashlight.

I wonder how much this varies for runners outside cities. I run in Schenley park which is smack dab in the middle of Pittsburgh and has lots of streetlights, etc. I'd suspect for more isolated trail the phase of the moon and how cloudy it is would play bigger roles.

Here is a website where you can check on sunrise and sunset times for your location and date