I have a confession.

I am not a morning person. Never have been. I was that teenager who would happily sleep all day and stay up all night, and I’m still a little salty about having to be awake early for things like my job and driving there. The night owls of the world have given the early birds a bit too much power, in my opinion. Or maybe they usurped it while we were sleeping in. Either way, I’m a night owl living in an early bird world, and I don’t like it.

This is not great.

There are lots of reasons I probably should become a morning person. For one, the earlier I get up, the shorter my commute is. If I get out of the house before about 6:30 am, my 22 mile drive to the office only takes about 25 minutes. If I leave after 6:30 am, it’s more like 45. If I get there earlier, I also get to come home earlier, and that’s only a good thing! Don’t get me wrong: I love my job, but I HATE commuting, and the less time I spend doing it, the happier I am.

I’m also more productive early in the morning. I know that sounds weird, coming from an extreme non-morning person, but I can get more done between 7 and 9 am than I will get done over the rest of the day. People leave me alone earlier in the day, and meetings usually don’t start until at least 8 am.

Another good reason to train myself to wake up early is that, if I get up early, I can get my run in before anything can derail my running plans for the day. The most stressful part of my day is walking through the front door after a long day of work and a commute. Picture it: I walk in, obviously tired and ready to change into a comfy pair of yoga pants and flipflops instead of heels and dress pants, and the first thing that hits my senses is the sound of my kids arguing over a video game. Or, as happens frequently with my kids and my animals, I come home to find out that my 2 idiot dogs are out on an unescorted adventure and need caught. It’s tough, and whatever shenanigans I walk into have squashed many planned runs.

However…

I suck at mornings. I can maintain a regular morning routine for a while, but it doesn’t take much for my morning routine to implode. A poor night’s sleep, a late night for the hubby, or even, I don’t know, the wrong moon phase maybe? And my morning routine is POOF! Gone.

I’m not proud of this. In fact, it’s a real problem. And, if my anxiety is less controlled than usual, it’s even worse.

So what’s a girl to do?

Inspirational Reading

I have been reading Rise & Run by Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky, and it inspired me to actually set up a morning routine. (Note that I may receive commission if you use my affiliate link to buy the book.) The inspiration was more jealousy that those ladies had time to sit down with their coffee in the mornings, but hey, inspiration is inspiration, right?

I also read a wikiHow article on having a good morning routine (complete with the awesome pictures you usually see in their articles!), and I decided to give it a try. Step 1 was accepting that maybe I can be a morning person. I’ll be honest. I don’t think I will ever accept that I am a morning person. But I can certainly pretend to be one. They say “fake it till you make it,” right? So I will fake it and see what happens!

I continued to follow the wikiHow suggestions on setting myself up to be a morning person—laying out my clothes, getting everything ready for breakfast the night before, and making sure I had a fun playlist ready to go for my morning run. Then I went to bed close to on time, set my alarm, and told the Hubby he was getting up with me at 4 am for a run… OUTDOORS!

One of my favorite running hacks (and one of the only ways I have ever made it out of the house in time for a 5K, back in the days when I was running all the time) is to lay out my Flat Mary. That’s where I lay out everything I plan to wear the next day for my run. I also place my phone and my earbuds with my running gear so I don’t forget them. If it was an actual road race, I would put my bib and the pins with my running gear, but there’s no bib for a run around my neighborhood at 4 am!

And then the morning came…

4:00 in the morning is early y’all. Oh so early. I always hear not to snooze in the morning, but it’s a hard habit to break. It’s even harder when it’s 4 stinking am.

I did hit snooze once, but I quickly realized that I needed to get up if I was going to run today. This was my crazy day—the only one where I have evening activities as well as a full day of work. I usually just assume my crazy days are rest days for running, but if I get up early, they don’t have to be!

Once I was conscious enough to realize that I needed to run (and that I needed to pee), I dragged myself out of bed and over to where Flat Mary was laid out (with a pee stop on the way–don’t worry, my bladder doesn’t get ignored). Hubby barely stirred, so I realized quickly that this was going to be a solo run. I grimaced and made the executive decision to run on the treadmill instead of outside. If I have a buddy, I can risk the early morning run outside, but without, it’s not going to happen! I got dressed, grabbed my water, and stumbled to my treadmill, which is in my office on the other side of the house. I turned on both the treadmill and the Couch25K app, and I did it! Week 1 Day 3 is complete!

After my run, I went back to the kitchen and added the wet ingredients to my breakfast, a raspberry-lime mug cake from Rise & Run that sounded delicious. I threw it in the microwave, threw my running gear in the washer, and sprinted in the buff all the way to my shower (which isn’t exactly far because my laundry room, master closet, and master bath are all connected). I took a glorious shower, got dressed, and had time to sit down and enjoy my coffee and mug cake. The only challenge I ran into was the kitten who thought my breakfast was his and was very upset when I informed him that his breakfast was in his food bowl, not in either of my mugs.  

Off to Work

After breakfast (with assistance from my furry little helper), I grabbed my purse and planner and headed out the door. Even with the snooze button struggles, I was out before 6:15 am, and I made it to the office at 6:45. It set me up for a great day, and even better, I had a little time once I got back home!

Maybe this morning business isn’t so bad after all.