Morning Hurdles

Cardio comes first, no excuses. I lined up three heavy paperback novels across the floorboards to build an obstacle track. The middle one stood upright, spine forward—a serious high jump. I took four strides back, sprinted hard, and cleared the first two with clean footwork. On the tall one, my sneaker clipped the dust jacket, but I landed firm on both feet without wobbling. Record time: four seconds flat. Now the day's officially underway.