Every 5,000 miles I change the oil in my SUV (okay, I pay Jiffy Lube to do it). At 7,500 miles I get my tires rotated.

Open up your hood and say “Ah.”

Whenever the “check engine” light goes on, my car is in the shop ASAP to make sure she’s firing on all cylinders and doesn’t need any TLC.

And I get her washed often. I take good care of my ride.

Well, I realized I’ve been a little lax as of late in taking care of my main form of transportation… namely me.

I’m way overdue for my annual physical; I haven’t had my eyes checked in far too long (almost embarrassed to say how long). And when I get a foot problem, I don’t go to the podiatrist as quickly as I probably should.

And I do see a few signs that this boy is getting a little more… how shall we say… “seasoned.”

This is still my favorite Dr.

I have a more gray hairs sprinkled on my sideburns. And now they’re popping up on my chest too (little bastards). And I’m terrified to check “downstairs” to see if there are a few gray basement dwellers.

And my eagle eye vision (which I constantly brag about) continues to work great… except when things get really close, like my Kindle or the newspaper. Now I find myself squinting just a tad. Gotta be the focus on my Kindle, right? Can’t be my eyes, right? Shit.

Now this doesn’t mean I’m ready to be shipped off to the old runners home and spend my afternoons eating pudding. Pudding, mmmm.

I pity the fool who don’t get a check-up.

I feel great the vast majority of the time. Just a few more snaps, crackles and pops in the morning and those sore muscles don’t heal quite as quickly as they used to.

Yeah, getting older sucks at times.

So this week, I’m finally getting with the program and paying some strangers to poke and prod the various parts and orifices of my body.

I’ve got a full physical scheduled for Tuesday. I’m getting my eyes checked too (probably Wednesday).

I’m also off to the podiatrist ASAP to check out something that’s been bugging me for about a week… some new pain on the top of my left foot (not bad, but something I don’t want to ignore). Here’s hoping it has something to do with my new orthotics or something minor and not some serious kind of ouch (specifically one that shall remain nameless).

So after I get back from turning my head and coughing and get the lowdown from the PhDs, I’ll give my personal “state of the union” address.

Open up your mouth and say “Ah”… and Run on!