Finished with February

I had my annual checkup on Friday.

Apparently, I'm as healthy as could be expected for somebody who's this old and fat and clueless. My cholesterol seems to be under control and the suntanning of my youth doesn't seem to have sparked any additional skin cancer. I'm feeling pretty darn good.

My doctor is training for the Boston Marathon. I'm not sure there's data to back up this opinion, but I feel much more comfortable having my health assessed by an athlete. And I guess I take medical advice more seriously when it comes from someone who obviously takes care of himself better than I do. In any case, I'm happy to be healthy, but have a long way to go before I'm as fit as I'd like to be.

Speaking of serious athletes, my buddy Reynold Kalstrom just completed another IronMan race. As expected, he was first in his age group in the swim, and finished strong in the other two legs as well. And Sammy Achterberg qualified for the finals in the World Cup Pentathlon championship in Acapulco. I don't yet know the final results.

In other news, it's time to report on my "new thing" for February. I had originally planned to sit in a hot tub for a full hour; I had never done that before. The goal was to see if it would loosen me up.

It didn't take long for me to realize that such an undertaking would not be good for my health. The water was warmer than it usually is, and I was already hot from my workout. After 20 minutes, I decided to take a break, and slowly made my way up the jacuzzi steps. I'm pretty sure I could've passed out if I'd have tried to stand up too quickly.

I swam another 500 yards, and then got back in the hot tub for another 15 minutes -- 35 minutes total. And guess what? I'm just as stiff and sore today as I was before soaking for so long. My conclusion is that extended hot tubbing does not provide all that much of a therapeutic benefit.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll be delighted to know that I've got several controversial topics to rant about. But I'm out of time right now, so those eruptions will have to wait. Have a great day!