The Agony and the Ecstasy of Early Morning Swim Meets
Ugh, 7 am swim meets. Is there anything more torturous for a parent? I think not. As I write this, I'm still trying to shake off the lingering haze of sleep deprivation, my coffee-deprived brain stumbling over the keyboard. But, alas, I'm here to vent about the woes of early morning swim meets.
Why, oh why, do swim meets have to start at 7 am on weekends? Can't they see that this is the one time of the week when parents (well, at least this parent) get to sleep in and recharge? Alas, no. Instead, I'm jolted awake, stumbling out of bed to drag myself to the pool, where I'll spend the next few hours sitting, watching my son David compete.
The worst part? The knowledge that I'm not even getting any extra sleep credit for being an early riser. Nope, I'm just a zombie in a spectator's chair, mainlining coffee and cheering on my kid as he laps around the pool. It's a cruel fate, really.
But then, something magical happens. David touches the wall, looks up, and smiles. He's done with his event, and he's excited to share the experience with me. The fatigue melts away (well, maybe it's the caffeine), and I'm beaming with pride. The agony of the early wake-up call dissipates, replaced by the pure joy of watching my child succeed.
By 9 am, I'm usually feeling like a new person. The coffee has kicked in, and I'm basking in the glow of David's triumphs. It's a fleeting feeling, I know – one that'll wear off as soon as the next early morning swim meet rolls around – but for now, I'll take it.
So, to all the other parents out there suffering through early morning swim meets with me, I salute you. May our coffee be strong, our cheers be loud, and our kids' times be fast. And to the swim meet organizers, I have a humble request: can't we just start at 9 am? Pretty please?
But schedules rarely bend to our wishes—at the pool or in markets—so we show up, warm up, and run the plan anyway.
In markets, this week felt a lot like that 7 am heat: you don't always feel ready, but the scoreboard moves whether you've warmed up or not. With the S&P finally sprinting past 6,800 on October 27 and the VIX easing to 15.79, the tape rewarded whoever had a plan in place before the whistle. The Fed's 25 bp cut on October 29 and a 10-year near 3.98% didn't give us certainty so much as permission to execute—especially in the same megacap/AI lanes that led the push. Psychology-wise, that's the trap: when everything looks "Goldilocks," discipline gets lazy, entries get sloppy, and we start chasing the next PR instead of swimming our race.
So I'm treating David's 0.20-second improvement like portfolio basis points: small, intentional, repeatable. Pre-commit the rules the night before, size for the inevitable chop, and let compounding—not euphoria—do the heavy lifting. If we can cheer through the yawn at 7 am, we can also ignore the sugar high of record closes and stick to the process at 8:30. That's how you convert early-wake agony into a routine—and a "new high" headline into durable returns.
Have your own rental horror stories? Share with us at info@yellowtunnel.com!
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