Caution: Fiscal Cliff Ahead!

Dec. 26, 2012

Happy Boxing Day or Merry Christmas plus one.

We somehow made it past the Mayan end of times, and now we're headed squarely toward the edge of the fiscal cliff. My greatest fear is that the new normal of the current recession will be replaced by an even newer normal after we drop off the cliff.

Since there is little I can do about it, I might as well run. Left, right, left ... you know the drill.

I wonder if the president and first lady are jogging out in Hawaii this week? You know, that whole fitness thing and setting an example for the youth of America?

In today's Runner's World quote of the day, opera singer Beverly Sills says, "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."

Somehow this spirit of hard work equaling success was stamped into the DNA of what we regard as the Greatest Generation. These were people who valued a day's work for a day's pay.

I'd like to think whether you're out on the road putting in the minutes and miles or working for a living that hard work will eventually equal success.

Like many runners, walkers and riders, I took Christmas Day off for a rest day. I'm also a bit of a chicken when it comes to cold weather. 

When that old thermometer doesn't crack the freezing mark I'm hard pressed to bundle up and go outside for a run. I just don't have that ice water in my veins that I see in folks who go tromping through the ice and snow in the name of fitness. I admire those hardy souls, but it's just not my style. I've heard the legends of bike riders rolling around with water frozen in their water bottles. That's "yikes" on my cold scale.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to lie on the couch eating Christmas cookies and watching bad college football all day. OK, I might watch some bad college football, but it might come while I'm riding my stationary bike and not lying on the couch.

It's been three or four days since I've gotten out on the mean streets and put my world's slowest human status on the line. I have to admit, the first two days of riding indoors instead of hitting the streets were kind of nice. Not nearly as strenuous, but a good change of pace.

But the guilt is starting to set in. I find myself looking at t he Weather Channel -- MTV for geezers is what a friend calls it -- and plotting out the warmest point of the day. Good luck with that since it's nearly noon and the thermometer has yet to pop past 20. 

But the sun is shining and the siren's song of the road is calling. I miss the warm weather and rolling over the hills toward fitness; skipping the shortcuts in the hope of getting to places worth going.

So hopefully I'll bundle up and get out there. If not, it will be back on the spin bike. 

Either way, happy Boxing Day!