PRINTAll things in moderation
January 24, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
I’ve spent most of my life doing everything I can to avoid exercise. Why would I endure the aching muscles and lungs of an after-work run when I could go get a thick, buttery steak and a rich glass of cabernet? To me, the better downtime activity seems obvious.
That is, until the one glass turns into two, which inevitably makes the third an easier sell, and before I know it, I’ll be asking a friend to drive me home because I can tell the fourth has pushed me just over the line of safety. Given my low tolerance, the idea of consuming 21 shots in a single evening is incomprehensible. But I do know many people who have tried to hit that birthday goal post; fortunately, they all failed — either passing out or throwing up somewhere in the mid-teens. And now most of them are making another of life’s rites of passage: the exercise-more new year’s resolution.
Joe Company, the triathlete profiled in this week’s feature story, is making the opposite resolution. After spending years training to compete in Ironman, he’s decided to pull back a bit and focus on smaller competitions such as 10-Ks. Among other things, he wants to take it a little easier on his body, which — whether your body needs a break from food, alcohol or even seemingly healthy exercise — is never a bad resolution.
I suppose this is the place where I’d mention something about my own resolutions for the upcoming year, but my only one was to spare people from the too-rhymey-to-resist “Lose weight in ’08.” Oh crap, another broken resolution.
