My kids were invited to a bounce house birthday party this past weekend. The birthday girl's parents are good friends, so I hung around to chat and watch the fun. I ended up hardly watching, burning a bushel of calories bouncing and running instead. It was sparked after getting roped into a race through a vertical bounce house obstacle course against the birthday girl's dad.

After a trial run to determine strategy, we lined up facing separate chutes that merge near the end for a climactic climb up a wall to a finishing slide. I have difficulty taking competition lightly. My heart was racing in anticipation as we waited until the kids cleared. After the crack of the starting gun -- my buddy said "go" -- I dove head first into the chute, flung my body into a side roll, threw myself over two squishy barricades and got smacked in the head by a post in the maze. After climbing a short wall, I dove down an incline, then turned to face the big climb. No opponent in sight, so I zipped up the top like a cocky middle-aged monkey and slid down to victory. Turns out my competition had decided to dive in the chute feet first. Bad decision in terms of momentum -- he fell backwards out of the chute and lost critical time.

After the big race I had flashbacks of my days watching American Gladiator episodes. Remember that nutty show featuring muscular Gladiator bodybuilding giants matched against mortal opponents totally cut, but much smaller in size? The small frys would usually get pummeled by Gladiators in The Joust, The Wall and The Eliminator. I was never into bodybuilding, but I always wanted to face a Gladiator and show 'em my stuff. Looks like I can reignite my dream -- it just so happens American Gladiators is back in production with the season opener scheduled for January 6. Look out Gladiators Crush, Stealth and Fury -- I'm amping up my workouts. Hellga, I'm just plain scared of you. Think you can take a Gladiator? Pic from www.nbc.com.