The Great God Fitness

In my mind I was playing shortstop for the Red Sox. The batter hit a hard ground ball toward second. I leapt to my left, did a double side step, gloved the ball and threw the runner out at first by a step. Then I whapped my left ankle against the bedside table and winced aloud..

"Are you ok?" Tasha asked from the other side of the room. She was doing knee lifts to the exercise video, which fortunately was nearing completion. Moments later we finished the mile of the intense aerobic walking we do most mornings.

"I'm fine," I said my imagination still at Fenway, the rest of my mind at home struggling through our morning ritual to the Great God Fitness. "I'm just starved and when I'm this hungry my mind wanders."

"This exercise is so good for us, especially before breakfast." She put the video into its rewinder.

"Sure," I said noncommittally. "I do this for you. Otherwise you'd be more and more insistent and it's just easier this way."

"I want you to last," she smiled.

"Oh I will," I assured her. I staggered down the stairs into the kitchen. Our morning exercise and what only could be called a sensible healthy diet seemed more discipline than I especially wanted. To stay fit some men go to health clubs, work out on monstrous equipment, eat tasteless protein bars and drink chalky, foamy concoctions that look like grout. . I'm not one of them. I prefer to stay home, read and watch DVD's. I accept that I could easily be called sedentary or worse a couch potato. I've noticed that once they hit advanced years those types don't seem to last all that long.

"Thank you for doing the walking with me," she said as we sipped tea at breakfast. "Did you drink your two glasses of water?" She was eating cereal that resembled barnyard gruel.

I was enjoying my burrito smothered in garlic, soy cheese and hot peppers on a bed of salad greens. There is a method to this madness. The peppers created an instant need for water. Soy cheese is healthier and less fatty than dairy. Garlic is delicious raw or cooked and works to lower blood pressure. The burrito is my one distant indulgence to my boyhood memory of the world of fast food. "There's a part of me I have to be constantly aware of that wants to bag our morning exercises and go drown myself in gooey three cheese pizza."

"But why?" she asked raising her eyes. "It's so good for us, especially early in the day."

"Because its tedious and boring." I replied. "Anytime I do the same thing over and over and over again it gets boring. I'm constantly at war against boredom."

"Would you rather we joined a health club?"

"You know the answer to that without my having to say anything." I looked at the sports page and wondered if the Red Sox would catch fire this season and make it again into the playoffs again.

"There's always a personal trainer." She got up from the table and took her spelt toast from the toaster. "Want some?"

"No thanks!" I said feeling a deep inner craving for pizza.

"Is there anything I could do to help make our morning exercise more interesting for you," she asked pleasantly.

"Sure," I smiled. "Wear a bikini."

"It's not yet summer and most mornings its chilly!"

"You asked. Besides it shouldn't matter. The heat generated from the intensity of exercise would keep you warm whatever time of year and then I'd get an eyeful."