No pain, no gain. Whoever coined that phrase ought to be shot in the foot. Then I'd ask him, where's your gain now?

 I've been making my morning trek for several weeks now and all I've managed to do is move the pain around to different body parts. You've all seen examples of cities with high crime neighborhoods. You know the ones where drug trafficking and prostitution take over what once was a nice middle class area? The police crack down on them for several months, but they don't solve the problem. They merely move the problem from that area to another.

 Well, my body is a city! It has several neighborhoods. And the crooks (pain) just get moved around. For example, my back is really feeling good. When I travel on planes, my back doesn't get all stove up like it used to. So that's a good thing. But the pain and stiffness has moved to my knees and ankles. I guess my knees are finally reaping the benefits of years of abuse. I used to squat about 450 lbs, and people would say it will ruin my knees. I scoffed at that notion (remember "no pain, no gain"), but now wonder if they were right.

 Last week I helped unload a couple container vans of appliances. There was about 40 items ranging from refrigerators to stoves to chest freezers. All still in their shipping cartons, and all were bulky and awkward to move. NOW, my body is bulky and awkward to move.

 It was just me and a twenty six year old kid who moved all these into a pickup and out again into a warehouse. And of course my pride forced me to out lift, out carry, and generally out work this young buck. Well, I soothed my pride at the expense of my body (no pain, no gain).

 So now my arms, shoulders and neck are sore from the appliances. My knees and ankles are sore from the walking, and I really question if I'm gaining ANYTHING from the pain!

 I could always step it up a notch, and start running each morning instead of walking.

There was a guy in Soldotna, Alaska (about 100 miles south) that was out running and got mauled by a bear. That's some SERIOUS pain, I wonder how much he gained?

 I guess I'll stick to walking.

Have a good one!

RL