Welcome to my mornings filled with coffee, animals, and boot camp.

On days where I do strength training, here's what my mornings are typically like:

• Alarm goes off at 3:45 AM.
• Small dog sits on my chest while female cat touches me in the face with her claws until I get up.

Hyooman. Wake up or it's the claws.

• I take the dogs out in the dark with a headlamp on, letting the large dog drag me across the yard while I yell at small dog to get back over here because he keeps running away in the dark
• I feed the dogs breakfast so they will be busy while I eat my breakfast.
• I make my breakfast (which is always oatmeal with a banana and some PB and cinnamon) and eat it.
• I enjoy my morning coffee, along with my morning large dog sprawled across my lap.

Clearly that coffee is making me all
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4 AM.

• Convince the large dog to get off my lap so I can work out.
• Then convince the male cat, who jumped in my lap after large dog vacated the premises, to get off me so I can go work out.

Hyooman. I know large dog has been here.  Traitor.

• After the animals are done with me I set up for my workout (or go get in my running duds, if the workout happens to be a running workout).  This morning it was Cathe's Boot Camp workout from her Strong & Sweaty series.  
• Scream, "Will you two STOP playing in my workout area!!!?!?!?" at least 3 times as large and small dog roughhouse in my teeny tiny workout space.
• Fling sweat all over my living room, including the TV.
• Know that I don't have enough time to do abs but do an ab workout anyway.
• Put all my equipment away while fending off the male cat's attempts to get me to rub him.

• Scramble to get ready for work, for which I almost always have to dress up and wear make-up, which is SO UNFAIR

What have we learned, kids?

• I get up way too early.  
• But I also go to bed early.  That's kind of how this thing works.
• So many animals...so many ways to get in the way of my workout.
• Do you know what it's like to have a cat threading himself between your legs while you're trying to lift a heavy barbell above your head?  Well, I do.
• And for those of you that need a reminder, I don't workout in the evenings after work because after-work working out is a complete lie for me.

Tomorrow's workout: Going to get back into the long-ish runs and do between 8-10 miles before it actually becomes winter around here.