Cookie Alert!

With my New York City Marathon training now ramping up into a fairly respectable base (by Bev standards), March is the month for achieving a virtuous training table. With a double-pronged approach to trimming down the muffin body—working out like a crazy person and eating right—I have to see some weight drop as mileage and intensity of workouts increase. Repeat: I have to.

And I know this is going to be reallyreallyreally hard because the Girl Scouts are now on their omnipresent cookie campaign and I’m a sucker for any cause that develops amazing girls into amazing women. I can’t tell you the heroic personal sacrifices I’ve made over the years on their behalf. Thin Mints. Samoas. Tagalongs.

This year I’m bribing the tenacious Scouts and their beleaguered mothers with generous checks to gather up their cookies and back away from the runner slowly …