Don't turn an `off' day into a day off

Waves of torturous remorse washed over me with every step.

Why am I running today? Why is it hurting so much? Why is this so different than any other routine exercise session?

Why did that punk "Scruffy" punch me in the nose in the fourth grade?

(Hey, when you're having a bad day, all the tough questions in your life demand their time in the answer queue.)

I was having a bad exercise day.

They happen occasionally. And they are absolute gut-punches to the noble exercise spirit.

On the scale of disappointment, these regrettable tumbles fall somewhere between a nasty stomach virus and paying good money to watch "Battlefield Earth." (Somebody please call John Travolta and tell him I want those 117 minutes of my life back.)

Everybody who has ever sought a little plot of land in Health and Fitness Valley knows of these hapless times - such as my ill-fated run the other day.

It's as if somebody took my energy and FedExed it to Baltimore.

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