THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505180062
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 142 lines
DAN RICHARDSON knows the satisfaction of sleeping late. One morning recently he stayed in bed until just past 5.
``That's about the latest I ever sleep,'' said Cape Henry Collegiate's headmaster. ``I'm up between 3 and 5 every morning.''
And he doesn't have to be.
Richardson is a member of the invisible army of people who wake well before the sun and begin their morning routines while ordinary mortals are still abed.
There are more of them here than almost anywhere in the country. The 1990 census ranked Hampton Roads third nationally for the percentage of people who are out and on the roads between 5 and 6:30 a.m. every morning.
Those figures don't include the Dan Richardsons: early risers who are up before dawn but not to commute to work.
Although the reasons for getting up early are as varied as the people who do it, the early risers we spoke to shared a common belief that the early morning hours were their most productive. They also said the discipline of getting up early gave them a sense of order in their lives.
Richardson gets to work about 7:30, but in the solitude of those early hours the educator works out then gets ready for work.
First thing Richardson does is pour a cup of coffee and head for his computer. He keeps in touch with about a dozen people in cyberspace, so he spends his first waking hour buzzing them with e-mail messages. Richardson's friends are amused when they log onto their computers later in the day and find messages he sent at 4 a.m.
Next, Richardson hops on his Nordic track for a warm-up workout. Then he dashes out the door of his Birdneck Point home for a 45-minute run around the neighborhood.
Richardson admits he's a classic ``Type A'' personality. He says he's compulsive about getting things done on time, not leaving work unfinished when he goes home at night.
On a good night Richardson likes to be in bed by 9. His duties at Cape Henry often keep him out well past that hour, but no matter how late he stays up, his internal alarm clock wakes him by 5.
Richardson said he doesn't mind running by the light of the moon and the stars in the heart of winter.
``There's something very contemplative about running in the dark,'' he said. ``I look forward to it.''
If Lulu Jolley, 54, of Chesapeake sleeps past 6 she feels as if she's ``missed half the day.''
Each morning she rises between 5 and 6, takes a few swigs of hot coffee and heads out the front door for a three-mile walk. She has to be quiet, though; her husband is still sleeping.
``He's definitely not an early riser,'' she said. ``But we've learned to live with our differences. It's not a big deal.
``Although I do think that people who sleep late miss a lot.''
She goes to bed by 9:30. Her husband retires closer to midnight.
He tiptoes in at night. She tiptoes out in the morning.
It used to be worse. When Lulu Jolley worked, she had to be at her office by 7:30. So she rolled her rising time back to 4:30.
``I didn't mind at all,'' she said. ``I just need to have some time to myself every day. It's nice to just sit quietly and enjoy your coffee every morning.''
Clyde Turner has been up with the sun since childhood. He doesn't set the alarm for 5 or 5:30 - he just wakes.
``Good golly, no, I don't need an alarm,'' he said. ``I wake up automatically and then I do my devotions.
``After that I do my three miles.''
The 62-year-old owner of A-Z Apartments in Norfolk says nothing, short of a broken toe, keeps him indoors in the morning. He's a familiar figure to those passing through Lakewood early in the morning where Turner is always out - either walking or jogging.
``I'm out there when its snowing or blowing,'' he said. ``If it's 5 degrees, I'm out there.''
Turner credits his early morning habits for his robust health. He says getting out in the early morning air has kept him from colds and flu all his adult life.
``I fractured my toe last October and missed a week of running,'' he said. ``By the second day I had my first cold in I don't know how long.''
When he returns from his walk or run, Turner says he has a cup of coffee - his only cup all day. He's at work, running his 300-unit apartment complex, by 8 a.m.
Turner said his father instilled in him a love of early mornings and hard work.
``My daddy was up before the sun every day, working hard,'' Turner said.
And like his father, Turner turns in early, too. Friends know not to call Turner after 8:30.
``I have no trouble going to sleep at night,'' Turner says. ``My daddy always said those who can't sleep at night got nothing on their minds.''
Unlike most early risers, Barbara Sessoms is up every morning at the crack of dawn - but she isn't happy about it.
``I never have been a morning person - it's hard for me every single day,'' she said, adding, ``but I do it.''
For 10 years her routine has not varied. She rolls out of bed at 6 a.m. Not a minute earlier, not a minute later. By 6:15 she's in her car driving toward Wareing's Gym.
At 6:25 every weekday morning she walks through the glass doors at the gym. She calls out a greeting to whichever of the Wareing brothers is on duty at the desk and heads up the stairs to the treadmill.
Her routine is as rigid as her daily schedule: It's 30 minutes on the treadmill, 15 on the stair climber, and a ``quick set of abs'' in the boxing ring, before Sessoms makes a beeline for the showers.
By 7:40 she is showered, dressed for work and heading out the gym door.
At 8 a.m. she's behind her desk at Pembroke Elementary School where she is an assistant principal. Sessoms never gets lazy - never sleeps in if it's a workday.
``I figure if I don't feel well enough to go to the gym, I'm not well enough for work,'' she said, shrugging. ``I missed one day at the gym last year and by 2 o'clock that day I had to leave work because I was so sick.''
Sessoms says her morning routine is essential to her job.
``I want to be in total control, I have to be,'' she said. ``After an early morning workout I'm ready for work. I find I'm very even-tempered with the children. I stay calm.''
Sessoms doesn't rely on artificial stimulants to get herself going in the morning - she shuns coffee and tea.
``It's pure `get your butt up and do it,' every day,'' she said, laughing. ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff color photos
Barbara Sessoms rises at 6 a.m. and exercises at Wareing's Gym
before heading to her job as assistant principal at Pembroke
Elementary School in Virginia Beach. ``After an early morning
workout I'm ready for work,'' she says. ``I find I'm very
even-tempered with the children. I stay calm.''
Dan Richardson, headmaster at Cape Henry Collegiate, wakes between 3
and 5 a.m. After working at his computer, he goes for a run.
by CNB