shoveling snow, whew! March 9, 2008
i am SO impressed with myself. yesterday, i went outside and shoveled my steps, walkway and driveway. the snow was about 10″ deep and deeper next to the street (*4-letter word* snow plows). now, if you know me, i’m on and off with the exercise, so i was breathing hard the whole time and sweating my butt off under 2-3 layers of clothing meant to keep me warm. i kept looking around and not a soul to be seen that might help this poor overweight, out of shape female with a blood-red face about to have a heart attack. not.a.soul. but i did it. because i knew no one else would and i had to get out of the driveway today. i took many 1-2 minute breaks, breathing like i had just run a marathon. i felt a little tightening in my chest (which scared me), but as long as i took breaks, i knew i’d be ok. i didn’t care if it took me all day, it had to be done. so once i was done and back inside, i was surprised to see it only took me 35 minutes. woopie! but once i got in where my heat was running, that’s when i really felt like i was going to die. i thought i would overheat and pass out. i started stripping clothes off as i headed to the shower.
once i got back downstairs to sit down and take a breather, i got curious about how many calories i had burned. so i went online and found numbers that ranged from 250 - near 400. some sites, you just put your weight and time spent. a couple asked if you were male or female. one even took in to account your height. but not one asked about your normal activity (sedentary, active, triathlete, etc). i would think that’s important. maybe not. i guess burning is burning. but my heart rate jumped way up after about 5 minutes, so i would think i burned more than any joe shmoe down the street who regularly benches 250.
whatever, I DID IT…BY MYSELF!!
then last night at 9pm, the *4-letter word* snow plows came through 2 more times and built a wall at the end of my drive that my little car would NOT get over…ARGH!!! so today…i grabbed my shovel again….LOL! but now i’m a pro and there wasn’t that much to do. i did have to break it up since it had turned to mostly ice overnight. but again…I DID IT! ok, enough patting on my back. oh yeah, and screw that snowman i mentioned yesterday. i’m done with snow!
Snow shoveling is very rough. We made a deal years ago with one of the neighbours daughters. She parks year round in our driveway, and shovels the snow from the whole driveway in return. Often her father helps, and sometimes they get a break as one of the other neighbours uses his snowblower. I’ve been shoveling parts of the back out recently so when it melts we don’t get a flooded basement - and I hate it!