"I beat you!"

Even before I had swung my feet out from the under the covers a little before 7:00 I could hear the treadmill going in the room beneath our bedroom. Who is that? Phil never gets on the treadmill, Cherlyn is at work and Clark sleeps in and doesn’t get on the treadmill until he has been prodded and threatened. It wasn't long until the question was answered. Clark came into our bedroom and informed Paul (who uses weights while Clark is on the treadmill) he would have to exercise alone because “I beat you.”

I left our room and went into the study. Phil was just getting ready to go outside for his mile walk. I know he loves it when he sees me going on my walk at the same time and we pass, Phil on one of the street and me on the other, so I hurriedly got ready and went out. Finally I could see him coming toward me laughing loudly and picking up his pace as I pretended to pick up mine. I walked to the corner and crossed the street. Soon I could see Phil’s legs facing my direction (his body was hidden by tree limbs). I could tell as soon as he saw me—he turned and started running out of sight. I kept walking and soon turned to go up the hill. Toward the top I could see Phil again and, of course, as soon as he saw me he turned and starting running again. Well, needlesstosay, he was on our street ahead of me. When he saw me he laughed again and said “I beat you.”