Morning Glory

I have recently began swimming in the mornings, before work, at the new YMCA. (By "recently" I mean I went this morning. I'm currently taking bets on when I'll go next. Two days? A week? Two weeks? We'll see.)

Here's how the hours before my first lap went: I set my cellphone alarm for 5:45 a.m. I wake up to go use the bathroom at 3:00 a.m. (I won't tell you that I drank an entire bottle of wine last night. Oh. Whoops. Ok, so now you know I drank an entire bottle of wine last night. But to explain it further in hopes that you won't think I'm an alcoholic, it was one of those cheap bottles of white wine that could almost pass for watered down white grape juice. Ok, so that's that.) So yes, bathroom. 3:00 a.m. Back to bed. Took about 20 minutes to fall back asleep. Cellphone alarm goes off at 5:45 a.m. According to radio clock on bedside table, time is 4:45 a.m. Frantically look at every clock in the house to confirm that it is, in fact, 4:45 a.m. Back in bed. Set two, TWO! alarm clocks for 5:45 a.m. and reset cellphone alarm for 6:45 a.m. (which would be 5:45 a.m.). Curse my cellphone and begin to think of my deceased Papa who would have been up for two hours already if he were still living. Start feeling sentimental. Can't get my Papa off my mind. Toss and turn for an hour. Then, what sounds like a tornado siren, a firetruck, and some weird techno music all at once go off and I'm somehow on my feet again.

Brush teeth, wash face, get gym bag, walk out the door. No traffic! YES!! Pull in gym parking lot and realize I've forgotten my work clothes. Back to house. Get clothes. Back to gym. Through the locker room. Put swim cap on. Secure goggles in place. (Oh yeah, it's the whole nine yards.)

Finally. Dive in.

I really love swimming as an aerobic exercise. Any exercise where I don't sweat is number one in my book. Plus, it's so relaxing to hear yourself breathe under water. In and out. Over and over. All the while, you're working pretty much every muscle in your body with no sweat beads forming around your eyes then dripping onto the step thingy you're doing the grapevine on and off of, creating a fear of slipping and breaking your back in front of a room of 20 other people. No, none of that.

An added bonus was getting to watch the sunrise while going down my lane this morning. (Seeing the colors of the sunrise through my purple tinted goggles made it even better.)

So if you're feeling lucky, if I were you, I'd place that bet on two days rather than two weeks. And maybe you should come join me in the morning. Don't worry - you won't look any more dumb than I do with that swim cap on.

Happy Monday, everyone!