"IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH..."

I am back on my soapbox and really don't know what set me off. Hang with me through the negatives: Not being sick does NOT mean you are healthy! Even the marriage vows imply an "either-or" situation, but really health is more of a continuum with sick being on one end, non-sick in the middle, and really good health on the other end (if I wanted to be precise, death would be on one end, and various degrees of ill-health moving up, but see no reason to be morbid just to make a point). So many people are content to be non-sick and never move up to being healthy. One reason is you have to work at it. When I was younger and working, I would get the question "Why do you exercise (run) so much? It won't make you live longer." (Generally these were 1-pack-a-day smokers and six-pack beer guzzling couch potatoes) I never debated "live longer" because that is so "iffy" but I was on firm ground pointing out that my quality of life would be better, longer. In retirement, my exposure to the general populace is less, and most of my acquaintances have my lifestyle. Anyhow, I felt great when running marathons, feel great now riding 60-80 miles or short races and time trials. I like how it feels being on the high end of the healthy continuum and urge all I can to opt for being healthy rather than being contentedly non-sick.