A REVELATION OF DROOPY PROPORTIONS

I ask my husband Chuck, "Do you think I can get my run in before the rain hits"? He looks up the weather on radar via the computer and says, "Looks to me like it's gonna go around us". So as usual, he and Brownie mount the four wheeler to follow behind me as I begin my run. I always insist they do this. Listening to my i-pod puts me at a great disadvantage of hearing the occasional pick-up truck with the shot gun in the rear window and the bumper sticker that reads, 'I reserve the right to carry firearms' that might mow me down in the boonies and leave my carcass for the buzzards!

I am no more than .25 mile in when I hear a clap of thunder that is so loud it drowns out Areosmith's 'Sweet Emotions' that is blaring into my ears from my i-pod. I turn to Chuck and he gives me the thumbs up signal, so I continue. At the .5 mile the rain begins to fall. I'm not talking a sprinkle. I'm talking a down pour with the drops being so big it only takes four or five to completely drench my body! Well, I'm dedicated but not that dedicated. I hop on the four wheeler next to Brownie, who smells like a wet carpet that has been rolled up, and we race back to the house. This picture was shot as soon as we got back to the house for no other reason than to show that one can be 54 and still not know when to come in out of the rain. However, when I viewed the photo a revelation of great proportion hit me!!!! No matter how much you excercise after hitting the half century mark, you will still droop, pooch and sag due to the combination of the law of gravity and the breaking down of cells. However, my run in the rain made me realize that although I may still look soggy and saggy even after I excercise, the maintaining of a healthy heart and body on the inside is the important, although unseen, benefits of excercise. Hence after a certain age, the importance of excercise is not a matter of retaining the look on the outside anymore, its a matter of maintaining the parts on the inside. I'm good with that and probably will be unless I'm running in the rain someday, without my faithful companions Chuck and Brownie, and get hit by that pick up truck! In that case, all this worrying about the outsides and insides will be laid to rest. Literally!