A date...plus one

It was one of those days...two ships passing.  I could not seem to make time for my run today.  I was determined to make this work, after all my new running shoes and I were just getting acquainted.  I decided that dinner was over-rated and that a run would serve me much better, and get me away from all the people who were complaining that there was no dinner.  As I am attempting to sneak out of a very reluctant sliding glass door, who appears freakishly quietly by my side...my daughter.  "What cha doin?" There I was, a deer in the headlights...do I lie so I can sneak away to my painfully delayed rendezvous? OR, do I muffin up to the plate and be a good role model?  You know how tough this choice was...I did it, I succumbed to the peer pressure inside my head and took the high, yet over-rated, road.  Do you remember when your parents would say "Sure you can go on a date with "Emilio" but you have to take your little brother with you?".  My run today was like a date with an 11 year old chaperone.  We got to the corner (the first one) when it started...Can we walk now?  Where are you going?  Wait up!!  MOM!  MOM, Stop!!  My stomach hurts.  Can we sit down now...and all this before the second corner!!!  Remember how it used to feel, the anticipation of just the possibility of touching that longed for date and then the frustration when your sibling popped up, out of nowhere, right between the two of you.  URGH!!  So here I was, unsuccessfully trying to find that comfortable pace, that place where you are destined to encounter that runner's high...only to be repeatedly pulled away just as I caught a glimpse of it.  What could I do?  I put my arm around her and we did the "bump" all the way home.  The good news is that the shoes felt good and it has been a long time since she and I have laughed that hard.  With any luck I have brought her one step closer to finding her own reasons to enjoy running...