Paying for My Overindulgence
Monday, May 19, 2008
6 Days Until Bolder Boulder

After yesterday’s food fest at Pint’s Pub, I knew I was in trouble but, at this point, simply adjusted my goals accordingly. Today my goal was to finish the Bolder Boulder without having a heart attack. If I could break 70 minutes in the process, that would be great but, at the rate I was going, it was appearing progressively more unlikely.

My training consisted primarily of a “training table” and I had done a poor job losing weight. I knew I wouldn’t be running at 180 to 185 pounds. I would be lucky to be at 195 and 200 was far more likely. Each pound would cost me a minute in the Race so a Race time of 70 minutes might be wishful thinking, too.

Today I had agreed to run in the morning so I dragged myself out of bed and started getting ready for the day. It was hard to believe that at this time in exactly a week I would be getting ready to run the Race. It was the Bolder Boulder’s 30th Anniversary and I knew I couldn’t miss it.

Angela showed up at 5:35 am and was very apologetic about missing yesterday’s run. I told her it was absolutely no problem and how I almost skipped it myself when she called to say she had just awoken. We both were surprised I had the willpower to run – as opposed to driving quickly back home and jumping in bed.

We went the full route today despite the fact I was exhausted and it was very warm – easily around 60°F when we started. That was way too toasty for me. I preferred running at 40°F. That was warm enough so I wouldn’t freeze and cool enough so I stayed relatively dry.

Later in the day, I looked at the forecast and saw the anticipated low for Race Day was 42°F and the expected high was 69°F. While I knew a forecast seven days out was likely to be highly unreliable – especially in Colorado – I was hoping those numbers (or even chillier ones) would hold up. If I could start the Race at 45°F or so, that would help me immensely.

Today’s run was difficult but we completed the entire route. We talked about work, family, and the movies we had seen this weekend (“Iron Man” for Angela and her husband and “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” for me, my daughter, my nephew, and my sister). It was a great way to pass the time. It took us 75 minutes to do the 5½ run but, at this point, I didn’t care. After running the 6.7-mile trail two days in a row, I was happy I could put one foot in front of the other.

It was my usual routine for the morning – primarily getting Holly ready for school, including making her breakfast and packing her a lunch, and then taking care of the four dogs. I had weighed in at 199, so for breakfast I drank several glasses of Minute Maid Orangeade. That would teach me to be such a pig.

Unfortunately, as the diet experts caution, this strategy backfired. By 10:30 am, I was so hungry I ended up nuking two double-cheeseburgers. I added large slices of red onion to assuage my fast-food-induced guilt. The four glasses of whole milk probably were a “wash,” nutritionally speaking but made the cheeseburgers taste great. I knew this wouldn’t help my weight but, hey, what’s the point of eating unless the food is fun to consume?

I got a call from Dick Wadhams, the Campaign Manager for Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former Congressman Bob Schaffer. Dick confirmed his candidate had accepted my offer to moderate a series of debates between his candidate and the Democratic nominee, Congressman Mark Udall. I now would have to wait to see if Mark wanted me to serve in that role. My guess was any decision was a week or two away. That was fine with me. I figured I probably would be hospitalized for a week after the Bolder Boulder anyway.

I worked all day and focused on TV-related challenges along with other e-mail correspondence. I also spent a lot of time reviewing Holly’s homework and grades. It looked like there would be a sprint to the finish if she were going to get decent grades. I knew a major discussion would be occurring after school today. I girded myself for battle!

When I went to pick her up, I discovered Holly had left her lunch in the car. When she climbed in, she attacked it immediately. She said she had forgotten it because she was “made” at me. She also forgot her art project, her Science book, and her glasses today so my checklist review obviously had been flawed. She managed well anyway and told me about her day. Her reports always were dominated by funny stories about her teachers. I had to admit, the teachers at Peak to Peak kept things interesting.

At home we ate a full meal. I had three-quarters of a pound of flounder baked in butter, garlic, and a mix of spices along with a lightly salted sliced tomato and a few glasses of milk. I knew I needed to stop for the day. I made Holly an assortment of foods and then we went to work – with Holly lacking all enthusiasm and eventually falling asleep.

My time was filled with Website-related work for our various projects as well as working on issues related to a program we were doing which had been expanded to include former U.S. Senators Tim Wirth (now President of the United Nations Foundation, thanks to a $1 billion gift from Ted Turner), Bill Armstrong, and Hank Brown.

The staff for current U.S. Senator Wayne Allard first informed me today we would have to change the taping time for him to be able to join us but I told them we couldn’t because the studio wasn’t available for any extra time. I suggested we find another day to tape the Senator with others involved in the program. The response I got back was they were going to find a way for him to go with the original schedule so now I had three former Senators and one current Senator on the show. This was going to be a challenge, especially with three of them being Republicans and only one being a Democrat. It was making me a bit nervous so I asked the Dem – Tim Wirth – if the arrangement was OK. I hoped to hear back from him in the next day or two.

I listened to “27 Jennifers” by Mike Doughty and Mudcrutch’s “Scare Easy” about 100 times during the day. I called it a day at 8:00 pm and decided to try and get a good night’s sleep. That probably was the most important action I could take to have a good run on Memorial Day.