I had just completed my 300 warm-up in Adult Swim when the thought struck me: I forgot to turn off the oven. It wasn’t a question, but a terrible certainty.

I made granola this morning and, because I was rushing, I stuck it in the oven at 350 with the intention of turning the oven off after a couple of minutes and letting the granola bake to perfection in a slowly cooling oven. It was an ideal plan; one that would have me enjoying a bowl of freshly made granola as my after-swim breakfast. Except that I failed to complete that crucial step: turning off the oven before I left the house.

I was enjoying my swim. That first 300 meters gets me in exactly the right zone to then really dig in and enjoy a solid workout. So, it was with great disappointment that I lugged myself out of the water to drive back home and check that I wasn’t burning my house down. 

It’s only a five-minute drive, but as I was on the road I was contemplating how to finish off my swim: jump in at my house and swim from there? Go back to Adult Swim? Then I saw Karen walking Poppy and when I explained the dilemma, she offered to pop in the house and turn off the oven as she passed by. Gratefully, I turned around and was back in my lane swimming laps a few minutes later.