Those Finns are onto something

Ta-da! I completed my first MaDaCol last night.

Four concerts and what seems like a dozen run-throughs in the last week. Whew! I lost a few pounds.

I think I'll do it again. It was fun and great exercise. I'm remembering that it's much easier for me to get exercise on a regular basis when it's an appointment on my calendar and I'll be letting people down when I'm not there.

Of course, today, my back/left-hip and everything from knees down is achy.

So I went to the gym this afternoon to hang out in the whirlpool and sauna. I've actually been going to the sauna pretty often over the last month. As the weather has been getting progressively colder, I've started to crave the sauna's ridiculous heat.

The sauna is not a particularly popular spot at my gym and I think it's all the better that I usually have the place to myself. I like to lie naked on my towel, close my eyes and pretend I'm somewhere scorchingly hot with the sun beating down on me. I stay there until a puddle forms in my navel. I stay until the skin on the tops of my knees feels burnt and I have to drip water from my waterbottle onto them.

I think the best thing is going out into the cooler air, taking cool shower and -- most importantly -- having the cool feel good. Then outside, coat open, crunching through the snow to the car.

Snow is a lot easier to take when your core body temperature is significantly above normal. Must be why the Finns are so into saunas. Those Finns are onto something.