Hey! I stopped celebrating January 1st years ago. It no longer fit
into my idea of an important day in my life. OK. I sometimes watch a
few bowl games on TV or even the Rose Parade. How many million roses
can you watch on TV? The national championship bowl game isn't even
played on New Year Day. So how big a deal can the first be?

We got nearly a foot of snow yesterday and I stayed inside watching it
fall. This morning I plan to go out and clean off my car. After that I
want to run 4 or 5 miles on the snowy and icy streets near home. It
isn't so much to start the year on the right foot - actually, marching
in the Boy Scouts taught me to start with the left foot. Last year I
was afraid to run on icy streets and I worked out indoors on a
treadmill. I was in good physical shape come spring, but my running
gait was seriously messed up by the treadmill. Also, just looking up a
hill outdoors sucked all the energy out of me. By the end of the
summer I was doing better. This spring I want to be prepared to
compete on roads.

When I reach back in my memory before my cancer was diagnosed I ran in
snowstorms, on trails packed with ice and up to a foot of snow, and on
roads with mounds of snow on the edges from plows that gave me no
escape from cars and trucks that came perilously close and could have
skidded into me.

What was it someone once said? "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"

Shalom,
Chuck