A week's rest and all is better.

I went back to see the family for a week over the Christmas holiday, and as a result of getting absolutely no exercise that week, my heel feels great!

The rest of me feels like a stuffing-bloated whale, but hey, you can't have everything, now can you?

Since I'm nursing the tail end of some bronchitis (over the holiday. Thanks, Universe. Thanks a lot.), I decided to do some yoga. I had a coupon for a series of classes at a 'hot' yoga place near me, and since friends have raved about how great the heated room yoga is for improving flexibility, I went and gave it a try.

I warned the very nice teacher upfront that I'm a yoga beginner (I've only done a few classes at the gym), but she assured me none of the sequences were going to be all that difficult.

Good thing, too - that was like sitting in a damn oven for 75 minutes. I think anything more strenuous would have made me explode.

I brought a liter of water with me, but it wasn't nearly enough and I walked out feeling marginally more flexible but with a terrible headache since I didn't have enough water.

Also, what no one will tell you about 'hot' yoga is that it smells really, really bad.

Everything everyone in the room has eaten in the past few days starts to come out of their pores about half an hour in, so the room ends up smelling like curry, asparagus, and underarm funk.

The instructor had one of those little oil burners with lavender in it, but that was like trying to hold back a tidal wave with a kitchen sponge.

People, please. If you're going to do heated room yoga, have the common decency to lay off the Indian food beforehand and wear a deodorant.

The class let out about 5:30, and my original plan had been to go from the class to the gym to sit in the steam room (funk-free heat), but a heavy fog had begun to roll in and I was worried about biking home after dark in heavy fog.

On the upside, I've had a muscle in my shoulder that's been stiff for about a week, and it feels much better after the class.

I just need to remember to bring nose plugs next time.