It’s like magic
There’s an old expression, repeated especially by parents and coaches, that nothing good happens after 10:00 P.M. If that’s true, then the corollary (repeated especially by me) is that everything good happens before 9:00 A.M.
I don’t know exactly when it happened but sometime in the past ten years, my day became centered around the sunrise. The picture above was this morning’s sunrise and, while gorgeous, it is thankfully not too rare.
The North Carolina summers demand that if you are going to do anything requiring physical exertion, you had better do it before dawn. Thus it is that my friends and I usually gather around 6:00 A.M. for our workouts. There is a pattern to these little assemblies: people arrive, then take tentative steps to move closer, as no one wants to be too harsh on the ears of others. Then a buzz starts, a few laughs drift into the mix, and, before long, you’d think it was happy hour.
Once we actually start running (or lifting or jumping, whatever the workout may be), magic ensues. And by “magic”, I mean that people seem exceptionally happy, optimistic, and glad to be alive. As far as I’m concerned, that’s magic.
Last Friday happened to be my birthday and, by 6:00 AM, I was joined by friends carrying balloons, muffins, cards, and gifts. But not before we did dozens of burpees, push-ups, and jumps.
Now, a 17-hour birthday, which included two workouts with friends might be enough. But then my friends Sarah and Rich were running the next morning at 5:10 A.M. so of course I had to join them. Because magic.
And so it was this morning that these were the happy faces of my buddies after nearly seven miles.
I see at least one article on Medium every day about a morning routine that will transform your life. I will tell you what will transform your life: being with friends, as many mornings as you can, to support each other while working hard. The tone of your day will be set, you will have laughed at least once, and you will have made magic. Not bad considering it’s not even 9:00 A.M.!
