Praise the Lord for iPods and the gym

I'm not a morning person.

I really want to be, so maybe that's why it's taken me so long to learn this. But I would much rather stay up until 3:00 in the morning finishing things I need to do than get up 30 minutes earlier than usual to do them. It's silly, I know, but I also know that in that make-or-break moment, I'll hit the snooze button every damn time. (Even with multiple alarm clocks.)

So maybe that's why I was so not wanting to go to the gym when my alarm went off at 5:00 this morning. Or maybe it's the fact that it's cold, which definitely makes it tough to get out of bed. It could be because I was up until 1:15 last night, thanks to Christmas cards taking about three times longer than I'd anticipated. It could be because after two straight workdays filled with brain-frying projects with impossible-to-meet deadlines, I really needed today to be Saturday.

Or it could be because my attempt at putting off all the anxiety that evidently goes along with having your husband come home from war by trying to not let it get to my head that it's, like, less than a month away is not working as well as I thought it was.

Maybe it was all of those things. All I knew was I did NOT want to get out of bed. I called Jeremy to see what the workout was. Maybe that would motivate me.

It would've been easy for Jeremy to say something like, "Your husband is coming home soon. Get your ass to the gym." And it would've worked. I guess Jeremy was annoyed I'd called, because all he could muster up was, "Shut up and get out of bed. See ya there."

I got up and started getting dressed. As I gradually became alert enough for all five senses to be working, I noticed a weird smell in my apartment for the second time this week. And for the second time this week, I walked into my living room to discover that Piper had managed to get diarrhea without waking me up to let me know to take her outside.

Awesome.

I cleaned it up and, frustrated, headed to the gym. During our 45-minute workout, I listened to nice, angry music by bands like Korn, Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch and Drowning Pool. (It really is good workout music -- especially for days like this.) My body was still sore from yesterday morning's 5:30 a.m. workout (Yes, we've been doing this on a regular basis.), which made today even more lovely.

At about 6:15, Jeremy said those words I always look forward to so much during our workouts: "We're done."

I headed toward the locker room, but I realized I wasn't as relieved as I usually am. I was still wound up and frustrated. I wanted to run, only it was 30 degrees outside and still dark. Not happening. But I couldn't go home. Not with all this negative energy still hanging over me.

I told Jeremy I was staying for cardio. I headed over to the elliptical (you know my luck with the treadmill), found more angry music and cranked up the volume. I started at a decent pace, and I picked it up more and more and more. I finished by listening to the first song I heard when I was heading back to Dallas the day K left for Iraq. I loved the song before then, but it's become a lot more emotionally motivating in runs. (It's the one I listened to at the end of my half-marathon to make me finish sprinting.)

After about 15 minutes, I was sweaty, red-faced and out of breath. For a physical and mental cooldown, I switched to Coldplay. When I climbed off the elliptical, I felt so much better. I had left all my frustration there.

Today is going to be a better day.