Is exercise really good for the health?

Lately I've noticed my thighs rub together more often and my belly fat jiggles like Santa Claus' robust abdomen.  I'm assuming this is not terribly attractive to my poor husband and I can't help but admit that my jeans have been a bit more snug these past few weeks (I like to think this is because Joel dries my jeans in the dryer, but I have a sneaking suspicion its more because of the mass amounts of cookies and ice cream we have been eating lately).

This is no way to live so I emphatically turned to exercising.  By emphatically I mean the first work I ran twice, the second week I ran once and this week, well lets just say that today was my first rendezvous with exercise.  I did my usual half walk half run from Washington to Idaho and from 16th to 20th and then back again.  All in all I would say this is four city blocks.  I know, marathon next week, right?

Well today was particularly eventful.  As I was cruising along Washington - the last leg of my trip - I started getting this really intense itch in my throat.  Actually, it started from the beginning but I thought it was just air passing along my throat.  Turns out it was a bit more than air and as I neared home I started coughing.  The coughing quickly became more intense and as I stepped inside the apartment I noticed breakfast was revisiting me.  I hardly made it to the toilet before I started upchucking my oatmeal and...cat hair?

I'm pretty sure I just had my first hairball.  I know they say people and their pets start to look like one another as time goes by, but hairballs?!?  Is this really necessary?  It took me a good full five minutes to finally stop coughing and wheezing.  If this is what Chachi goes through (and I think it might be since his hacking always ends in throw up) then thank God I am not a cat...because that was a horrible experience.