Week Twenty-Four - Day Four: Waking Up is Hard to Do

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 30 min.
TIME BACK: 28 min.
WEATHER: partly cloudy, -12C, no wind there; clear, -3C, 6 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: warm-up pants, tights (I brought a skirt to wear at work today, so I wore the accompanying tights for my commute), turtleneck, waterproof shell, running gloves, balaclava
NOTES:

My alarm went off at 6:30 am, and I wanted to cry. So soon, Alarm Clock?? I just need a little more sleep . . .

Last night I tried putting my daughter to bed without her soother for the first time. I know she naps at daycare without it, so I figured I should start weaning her off it at home, too. Well, maybe that wasn't so wise . . . I put her to bed and all was fine for the first half-hour or so during which I cleaned up the post-dinner kitchen mess and heard nothing but silence from upstairs. Then the crying began. Okay, no big deal, sometimes she needs to cry it out a bit as she's falling asleep. I sorted the recycling and took out the trash, fed the cats, wrote my blog. She was still going strong, her angry cry seeming to pierce into the core of my body and shake my spine. There's really only so much of this I can take! I went upstairs and found her lying in her crib, looking at me innocently as I entered the room. "Soo?" she said, and I didn't have the fortitude to deny her. So I gave her the soother, and all was calm.

Unfortunately, this wouldn't last. Because of the crying, she ended up being overtired by the time she actually fell asleep. This led to less-than-ideal overnight sleep. She woke up twice, and both times I had to force myself out of my warm cozy bed to soothe her, change a diaper, get her some more milk, or some combination thereof. I was already tired when I went to bed. Having this interrupted sleep didn't help.

So at 6:30 am this morning, when my alarm went off, I found it nearly impossible to open my eyes. They were gritty, as though I'd fallen asleep face-down on a beach. For the first time in a very long time, the excuses not to bike began swirling through my head. I'm too tired. I'm too pissed off. If I drive I can sleep in a bit. I was so tempted to say, "aww, fuck it!" and just drive. But then the other voice came in, the rational voice that knew better. Biking will wake you up. You'll be more alert at work if you bike. Being tired is a lame excuse. It's not worth the $12 in parking.

So I biked today, excuses be damned, and I'm very glad I did. I even got to chat with a fellow cyclist on the way home when we got caught at a couple red lights together, and that was a blast! I was still tired at work, that can't be denied, but I did a whole lot better with my clients than I would have if I had driven. So, excuses: you FAILED! And tonight, I'm going to bed damn early - I can't handle another dead-tired day like this.