Body-ball kicks ass -- Andre: you da man. Still, I forgot to mention one of the more depressing aspects of my medical report: that my doctor saw no particular necessity to further avoid my jogging routine.

Crap! I was starting to really enjoy spending ice-cold mornings indoors. With hot coffee. A newspaper. And no exertion.

So I took a short run this afternoon -- just to Crestwood and back, plus a few runs up and down the train-station stairs to keep he heart-rate up. The back felt pretty good throughout. Cooled down on the body-ball and everything seemed good. Pain started kicking while we were at Mass this evening, but not huge like it's been.

Maybe Alane brought me the good luck of a Christmas elf! And just in case she hasn't, I'm going to start drinking tonight. Heavily.