OUCH!

“Hey, have a safe 4th.”  “Hey, have a safe one.”  What is it about the 4th of July that compels people to always tell you to be safe?  Do they really think without their helpful reminder, that you might accidentally set off some bottle rockets in your shorts?  Or perhaps they are talking about that other 4th of July staple – BBQ grilling.  Are they telling you to make sure you grill the burger thoroughly on both sides so you can avoid the nasty E Coli or even this mad cow?

Really Mad Cow

 Whatever it is, I was told by several people to have a safe 4th.  And you know what?  I should have listened.  But more on that later.

At Fantasy Healthball, we are all about good health and the well-being of our Fantasy Healthball community (which you are one of since you are reading this blog!).  As you can read on our website, we think good health leads to happiness in all parts of life.  We care about our readers, the readers of our site, our blog, the Fantasy Healthball devotees who play our game, and the whole Fantasy Healthball community.  A few posts back, we reminded you to figure out ways to decrease stress in your life during these difficult economic times.  In this post, we have a quick word about safety. 

There is a reason NFL players wear pads.  Think of the meanest, nastiest, current NFL player you know and I can guarantee he wears big pads just like everyone else.  Safety doesn’t mean wimpy, safety means thinking about what you intend to accomplish and then putting some things in place that will help you get there.  Couple things happened this week that made me dwell on safety.  First, I bought my first great pair of running shoes ever.  For running shoes, I typically go down to the big box mart and buy whatever is on the best sale.  I usually wear them until they fall off me in shreds and long past when it feels like I have no foot protection left in them.   This week, as I turn 41 years old, I realized it was time to get smarter.  I went to our local specialty shoe store and had the crackerjack owner dissect my feet and running style until I walked out with the perfect running shoes for me.  If you have one of these places within 100 miles of where you live, it is worth it.  You can find a shoe basically made for your specific foot and running mechanics.  I hope my knees and joints thank me and continue to perform for many decades to come.  I make a Fantasy Healthball pledge to replace them once a year and show some respect to this aging machine I live in (my body). 

Okay, second safety episode this week.  While mountain biking near my house, I tried for the first time an extremely steep section of trail full of long ruts and covered in slippery gravel and rock.  I made it up with a series of small bursts like a blue painted Mel Gibson screaming “freeeedooom!!” while charging the opposing army.  On the way down, I did a “full on endo” which is an over-the-handle-bars- end-over-end-flying-flip where my bike landed on me and ultimately stopped 10 yards further down slope.  It looked exactly like:

  

So here is the point.  We care about your body, you should too.  If you are injured, your ability to exercise and burn calories is greatly reduced.  Today, I have a wrist injury, bruised ribs, and a pretty shoulder rash that looks like someone ran out of red ink on their Spirograph.  I won’t have a decent exercise anytime really soon.  So I’m going to pay even more attention to what I put in my mouth, keep control of my calorie intake, and go for some non-body-jarring walks.  A public service announcement from Fantasy Healthball:  exercise, eat right, and take good care of your body, it is aging and deserves it.  Oh, and one more thing, “have a safe one!”  — Jim Ballard