Mission Rehab Center.

My recommendation:

Go on a hike. Tear your ACL and rip out an inch or so of that meniscus in your knee. Get surgery at Mission Hospital. Go to physical therapy until your insurance runs out and then join the Mission Rehab Center.

This place is for employees of Mission Hospital (though oddly few of them come), folks who are receiving physical therapy, and broken people who are finished with PT but need the equipment and optional support. I fit in the last of the three categories. And... if you had orthopedic surgery at the hospital (roughly $32,000), you can join the Rehab Center for only $20 a month.

What I love about this place is that I will always feel good about myself when I leave. The YMCA and other fitness venues are intimidating sometimes. I end up feeling really un-fit and sometimes (at the Y) I run into students who either pretend they didn't see me or stand in shock that Miss Vann is sweating and wearing shorts, coming to grips with the fact that I'm real. Plus, who wants to lift puny 5 pound weights beside some big-shot-show-off-22-year-old-athlete who could crush my head with his pinky finger? The possibilities for sociological research on fitness center dynamics are incalculable.

So, thankfully, I tore my ACL. Now I get to run on the treadmill beside one of two categories of people for the most part... broken people and old people. The camaraderie is such that everyone feels encouraged. This morning, for instance, I hear from an older woman on the bike, "Way to go! That was awesome!" (referring to my measly 15 minute run) People strike up conversations with one another frequently but no one is scamming or showing off... they just want to swap war stories... "Wow. That must have been a tough surgery to recover from..." "Have you been able to get back to work?..." "Yeah, I had that injury too and my shoulder took forever to get back to normal..." "Have you tried this stretch? It helps before you use that machine."

So, if you want to feel really good about yourself, take my advice. I've found the paradise of fitness centers and I'm letting the secret out.