Sleeping In

You know that I'm worn out if I don't get up to work out in the morning.

No, it's not like I'm obsessed or anything, and there are plenty of days where my workouts are executed with less of an "Energizer Bunny" attitude, and more of a "Generic Sloth" approach. But unless something is horribly wrong, I'm awake early in the morning, and if I'm awake, well, then why not go over to the gym or the pool to try to keep the ravages of age at bay for one more day? Right?

Anyway, I didn't set the alarm Monday night, and I didn't wake up until after 6am on Tuesday morning. Ugh. I'm whupped.

It all started with the TV Preview on Friday night. I was up WAY past my normal bedtime. Then on Saturday, after my run and some lifting and toting, I was pretty well bushed again. But the day wasn't over. When I finished helping my friends with their move, and had taken my son over to his band practice, I was still not finished with my day's activities. My next appointment was at the Camp Paha fundraiser. The event was up in Lakewood, and I arrived shortly after the festivities had started.

For some reason, the event was titled "Yippie Ki Yay Paha in Margaritaville" or something equally abysmal...probably in a misguided attempt to get across the flavor of the evening, which (as far as I could tell) was "Mountain state residents pretending to be Carribean Islanders who eat Mexican food". The music was provided by a boombox that had been stuffed with more Jimmy Buffet than should be legal -- and the attire was Hawaiian shirts, shorts, sandals, and umbrella drink accessories. My sister-in-law Liane even had sunglasses that were shaped like plastic cups with lime slices slung over the sides. Once I got over my confusion about the seeming mixture of disparate themes, I found it all to be quite festive.

And the cuisine was excellent! (But let's face it -- let's face it, it's tough to go wrong with an all-you-can-eat Mexican food buffet.)

Anyway, Camp Paha provides a wonderful opportunity for families with special needs kids, and the campers universally cherish the experiences they have there. The staff is dedicated and enthusiastic, and were there to give us plenty of reminders about how much good this charity does for the folks who need these services. The food and drink may have been the main focus of my attention for most of the evening, but the real purpose of the event was to raise money for a good cause.

Numerous people and organizations had donated items to be auctioned. The big-ticket items (fabulous vacations, golf extravaganzas, camp sponsorhips, etc) would be put on the block during a live auction later in the evening...and were also well beyond my financial means. But a wide collection of other goodies was on display for a silent auction, which was open to browsing and bidding until midway through the dinner. There were tickets to Broncos and Rockies games, artistically handcrafted items of various genres, apparel, restaurant gift certificates, and my favorite item...a large collection of homemade salsas and pasta sauces. I immediately bid on that. I also place bids on some of the restaurant coupons, as well as massage and accupuncture appointments.

The salsa and pasta sauce bidding zipped past my checkbook balance fairly quickly, but I was surprised to learn that I ended up with the winning bid on the accupuncture appointment. Cool! Perhaps becoming a human pincushion is just the thing I need to get my hamstring to become compatible with my running ambitions. I'll let you know.

Anyway, the party was fun, and I got to chat a bit with Liane's parents, who I really like. I also got to watch the Mayor of Lakewood auction off a Mazatlan vacation that sounded delightful, as well as some other enviably attractive trips. But by the time I left, I was running on fumes, and ready to crash.

I did get up for Sunday swim practice, and again to go to the gym on Monday morning -- but ended up working about an hour late on Monday night. Hopefully, sleeping in will revive me, and turn me into a productive dynamo for the rest of the week.

We'll see. In the meantime...ZZzzzzzzzzzz