Starting Off the Week Right at the Gym

Rocking my heart rate monitor

I hate Mondays almost as much as I hate mornings. I usually set the alarm, press snooze, then hit the showers before breakfast and commuting. With my fancy pants gym trial, I've become somewhat of an early riser. I've hit the gym first thing several times in the past week and had a bit of a revelation.

I like working out early. I might even go as far as to say I like mornings.

I don't know what happened to me.

The gym in the morning is a whole other entity. There's plenty of parking, lockers, showers and towels. There's no rush, and plenty of bikes for my morning spin class. And, I think I hit the ground running each morning in a way I don't or can't when I take my time getting to the gym. If I'm going to drag myself out of my cozy, 800-thread count bed and kiss my husband goodbye at 4:45 a.m., I'm going to make the most of every minute at the gym.

There's the beautiful sunrise.

And the free coffee at the gym.

And getting the best parking spot at work. I think that the combination of getting my heart pumping first thing in the morning and getting to work early makes my day super productive. I was very focused today and gave my to-do list a roundhouse kick to the face. Same thing happened when I rolled home at a decent time without a workout yet to scratch off the list. I made an excellent dinner, packed my gym and lunch bags for tomorrow, put away laundry and now I'm working on some stuff for the Fort2Base Ambassador program.

Another bonus for today? It's Girl Scout cookies day! I got samoas and thin mints, and I think this photo perfectly sums up my life: dirty gym clothes next to a box of cookies. A life worth living is a life of balance.