A Local Routine Could Be Fun…
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
19 Days Until Bolder Boulder

The weather was perfect for a run at 5:30 am. It was a balmy
40°F and only a light wind prevailed. After my morning routine of getting cleaned up, taking care of the dogs, and answering e-mail, I went outside to meet my running partner as she drove up.

We decided to run around my neighborhood and easily went over 4 miles. The pace was slow (OK, languid) but I enjoyed it. Other than stopping to talk with a woman walking a beautiful German Shepherd in a neighboring subdivision (her family had moved from Dallas and loved Erie), we ran the entire route.

The run in the immediate area was beginning to be very attractive to me. The terrain was gentle and the route was long enough to get a good workout. I especially liked the fact I wasn’t driving anywhere and I was close to home the entire time. My sense was it wasn’t challenging enough for Angela but I would see if we could do it once a week. And I knew I always could run it alone.

The day was filled with work, writing, phone calls, e-mails, the dogs, and my daughter. Holly had Cheer starting again at Xtreme Altitude Cheerleading and Gymnastics in Lafayette. It was a great, family-oriented gym and the staff was fantastic. I had known nothing about Cheer until nine months ago and was now a Cheer Dad. Holly was having a great time. It was her first experience doing a team sport so I wanted her to enjoy it.

While Holly was at Cheer, I went grocery shopping and noticed how the prices of a number of items were edging up. I wondered how some families were coping with the way energy costs were impacting their budgets.

Next I went to Holly’s school – Peak to Peak, a Boulder Valley School District charter school – for an evening event focused on how to communicate with Middle School students. Holly was about to leave Middle School in 3½ weeks but I was always open to learning more.

I arrived late due to the grocery shopping and sat down at the edge of a group of about two dozen parents. I enjoyed the discussion and the use of clips from the movie, “Dan In Real Life” with Steve Carrell to promote discussion. It was an interesting group of parents and I was intrigued by many of their comments and how their perspective of the movie was so colored by their own experiences – sometimes to the point of misinterpreting the motivation of Carrell’s character.

I was happy to know my daughter and I communicated well but also knew the next four years were likely to be very challenging – especially given she didn’t have what so many of her friends did have. These materialistic items she desired ranged from an iPod to a computer and television in her room to the cell phone she wanted (she had a good one but it wasn’t good enough). And, having only an hour of television available per week with no cable or satellite available made me Neanderthal, as far as she was concerned. I knew much, if not all, of this would change in the coming months as she became more independent but I’d continue to do my best. I had to admit peer pressure was tough competition.

That evening, I made spaghetti sauce with tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, Italian sausage, celery, chopped onions, garlic powder, other seasonings. I made angel hair pasta and considered it a complete meal. Holly surprised me when she told me she liked the sauce.

I made the mistake of having seconds and thirds. That meant I wouldn’t sleep well and I wouldn’t make any progress on my weight. It did taste good, however, so I figured there always was tomorrow. Not surprisingly, I didn’t get to sleep until 11:00 pm and knew I would be tired tomorrow. I was.