5AM: A SHORT FILM
Without any warning you are ripped from your slumber and whatever you were dreaming of is instantly a faint speckle on a distant horizon. With your eyes still shut, you scrabble to try and claw it back - it was a good dream after all, likely about cats playing keyboards, but you quickly realise the dream is long gone and direct your efforts into kick-starting the day. Damn alarms...
Before your eyes have even adjusted to the light and the sounds of the new day, you’ve already forgotten about being tired, you can sleep when you’re dead after all. The notion that the 3am getup will all be worth while has got your endorphins racing and flows of great anticipation begin infusing into your blood stream. You feel alive. More awake than ever and with a deep breath and a final swig of coffee you let the day begin.
Under a wide sky of dawn’s pastel hues and in the cold shadows of the mountains, you embark on the accent to the distant horizon. There’s a rhythm, a melody to each footstep that hits the gritty earth beneath the sole of your shoe. And the gentle hum of the wind is a welcome companion as that distant horizon rapidly becomes within a stones throw.
The summit is now at your finger tips. You look around as you feed on the crisp mountain air to fuel the final few steps to the top. The sky is ablaze with purples, blues, oranges and yellows, you’re eyes in total awe as the surrounding mountains pine for its attention. And then, you see the first glimmer of what the early start was all about. The race for the summit is now
on.
The rhythm begins again. The bike on your back now seems heavier and the wind seems to be calling louder - you take it as encouragement. Within moments, you’ve made the summit crest and at that very moment, as you relieve the weight off your shoulders, the lands around you are enveloped in gold. You’ve made it and just in time to shake hands with the rising sun. An old friend. There’s not a soul around, not as far as you can see. No one else is witnessing what you are right now - not the shadows folding around the mountain ridges, or the lowlands fading into life - you don’t take it for granted. It’s a special moment and you laugh that you even contested sleep for a 5am sunrise. These mountains were yours. And the ride down was to be one of the finest.
