Dear Economy,

You are stealing jobs away from our friends and making our houses less valuable. You are lengthening the time between now and our retirements, and causing otherwise positive people to whine. And we are sick of it - but you can't discourage us that easily.

Perhaps you haven't come up against us triathletes before. We aren't afraid of much. We embrace the challenge that you are throwing at us!! Our jobless friends with a little extra time on their hands are TRAINING!!! They are learning to fill out online job applications from their stationary bikes. AND..while on those bikes, they've turned down their thermostats thereby saving money. HA!!!

Think you can scare us with a little rise in the gas prices, eh..... Pfffsssttt - we learned our lesson from you a few months ago. We are carpooling and combining trips and commuting on buses and bikes (weather permitting) and are empowered by the memory of your almost $5 per gallon attempt to dampen our spirits.

Triathletes aren't this easy to beat down, you know. We're used to working hard for tiny, incremental gains. Shoot, we're even used to obsessive, ridiculously hard work and losing ground! So don't think for one minute you've won. Because you haven't.

Raise the Bar is ready to face you on January 15th with a whole new game plan - by focusing on the things that really matter - building community and forming alliances and using a great army of athletes to make your threat of misery and despair a mockery.

And we will. Game on.