Sometimes You Gotta Go With Your Gut

I am not a morning person. If you know anything at all about me, know this. I managed to sleep through three women getting up, dressed and chatting in the morning at BlogHer this year because I was not about to face the day. That said, when I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go do yoga on the ledge on the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower? Well, how do you say no to that?

Even though it was at 6:30 in the morning. At least it was on a Sunday, so there was no traffic to contend with - or I may have begged off. I committed, even with some of my reservations about the hour.

I was so happy to hear my GPS tell me that it truly was only 59 minutes to my destination as I headed out towards the highway. I got through the toll and there was no backup, a good sign. I was so going to be on time. As I listened to the radio list off traffic issues, there was nothing to worry about. Though there was a half marathon going on, it was in Grant Park according to the traffic person, and not going to affect me.

As I got downtown, I couldn't turn left on Jackson. There were little orange cones pushing me west. This was not the direction I wanted to head. That's ok. I turned right on Halstead, the next street to head north. As I went north, every street headed easy was blockaded and monitored by police officers. Was I missing something?

I gave up trying to go north, as there was obviously some sort of issue. I went south to try to head east. And I failed. I kept getting pushed west and south until I finally found a way to make my way east, though very south of the Sears Tower. I was no longer on time. And that zen I had for my yoga? Let's just say that it was gone.

As I made my way easy, I still couldn't go north. Anywhere. I went back across the river, tried going north and ... got stuck. Again. Seriously? If I didn't have an hour long drive back home, I might have bagged it then and there. Someone didn't want me going to this yoga. Someone was reminding me that I am not a morning person and that I could have been happily asleep in my bed.

As I kept driving, I began to notice that there were so many streets blocked off, they ran out of the blue police barricades.

In fact, they eventually ran out of even the construction barricades eventually and were reduced to simply using cones to block streets. No wonder I was having so many issues. Yeah. That race that was being run in Grant Park? Guess what, it was closing the majority of downtown! Until 11am. Oops.

By the time I had found my way as close to the Sears Tower as I was getting and walked to the lobby, I was thirty-five minutes late. Fortunately the first half hour was not actual yoga time, and amazingly the class had somehow not started before I arrived.

I found my zen. And my hamstrings. And my tight low back. I'm pretty sure that tomorrow I'll find my sore abs and an achy chest. It was awesome. I need to do yoga regularly once again. Andrea Metcalf led the class and Melisa was the host as part of her SkyDeck Ambassador role.



And the most impressive part... for me? I actually went on the Ledge. I stood 103 floors above the ground with just three inches of glass separating me from a Looney Toons like fall. Sans happy ending. I was a grabber - I had to hold onto the wall before the ledge to do get out there, but I did it!



Enter to win a strawberries cook book
You could also win Giddy Snacks for a week - 2 winners

In the interest of full disclosure, I was invited to attend a free yoga class on the Ledge at the SkyDeck of the Sears Tower. I received no compensation, nor was I asked to write about it. As always all opinions (especially about mornings and traffic) are my own.