My intention was to write an Out and About describing what I like about mornings, as someone who views them as the best part of the day, with many fond memories attached to waking up before the sun rises.
So, of course, I ended up running to my car this morning like my house was on fire — and I was on fire, leaving almost as late as I intended to arrive at work.
While I still believe I’m a morning person by all accounts, I will occasionally have a slip-up day, like this morning. After staying up a bit too late working on a story for today’s edition, I slipped into bed for a few hours of sleep before arriving at work early.
Prior to nodding off, I checked my alarm clock not once, but twice, to ensure it was properly set. Satisfied, I slipped off to sleep almost immediately.
When I awoke, I was immediately aware it seemed a little too bright in the bedroom for 5:30 in the morning. Grabbing my red Lego brick alarm clock, I saw it read 6:42 a.m.
I literally jumped out of a bed in a flurry of impolite words, waking up my wife and likely the dogs in the next room before dashing about to complete an abbreviated version of my morning routine. Minutes later I was out the door and on my way to Tooele.
It doesn’t happen often, but apparently some mornings I just … turn my alarm clock off, apparently without waking up, to grab an extra hour or so of sleep. It’s easy to skip your morning coffee with that much adrenaline in your system once you realize you’re late.
I’m actually pretty paranoid about waking up on time when I set my alarm, too. Most mornings, I’ll be lying in bed awake waiting on the alarm to ring, or wake up to check the time, only to see it’s a minute or two before it should go off.
On days when I need to wake up especially early — before 5 a.m. — I usually naturally wake up every half hour or so to ensure I haven’t missed my alarm.
So today was an ironic — and unusual — morning for me to turn off my alarm. I suppose I should get out of the habit of never snoozing it, but I feel that sets a dangerous precedent.
Being able to wake up early and be ready to take on the day is something I usually pride myself on. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in those wee hours before everyone else is up and the world is quiet, dark and peaceful.
I like taking my time in the morning, too. I’d rather leisurely go about my routine by losing a bit of sleep than stay in bed and rush around.
As was the point of my original Out and About, I’ve come to appreciate the events that happen early in the day. Triathlons, running relays, 15K races and canoe marathons all start at the crack of dawn.
My family is all early risers, so we would wake up at 5 a.m. to go swimming at a local pool or I would run with my dad while there was little to no traffic on the road near our house. I have lots of positive connections to waking up on the wrong side of 6 a.m.
My wife, however, could likely go the rest of her life without seeing the a.m. hours ever again. Sometimes on the weekends, she’ll sleep in until almost noon; I’ve never managed to stay in bed more than a few minutes beyond 10 a.m. on days I’ve stayed up far too late.
So I should probably apologize for waking her up this morning, a time when I usually try to navigate the house like a shadow. Sorry!