Don’t Believe Anyone Touting Pain-Free Deficit Reduction

• By Stan Collender
• Roll Call Contributing Writer
• April 13, 2010, Midnight

When I ran the Marine Corps Marathon a number of years ago, three young men, who even though the race is run early in the morning clearly had been drinking for several hours, were perched at the start of the final turn and loudly exhorting the runners by shouting, “There is no pain.” I knew it wasn’t true: Every part of my body had been telling me just the opposite for the previous few miles. But it sounded good at that moment because, despite what my knees, ankles and legs were saying about the reality of the situation, it was what I wanted to hear.