The snowstorm from hell...

Friday, February 25, 2011

The phone ringing at 5:30 a.m. on a week day almost always means one thing…snow day. Jack would be thrilled…he’d asked at least 82 times the night before, “do you think we’ll have a snow day tomorrow?” Frankly, I wasn’t even aware of a snow warning, but he monitors these things like he does ice cream coming into the house. I picked up the phone and listened to the recording confirming Jack’s question and alerting me to the fact that my first workout of the day would be snow removal. And what a workout it was.

The reports said we’d gotten about 8 inches, but with winds howling at over 50 miles an hour, the drifts were the issue. The wind patterns that deposit all downed leaves in front of and into my garage throughout the year act to pile snow in unmovable drifts. I popped open the garage door…and gaped in amazement. This would be a long one.

I made my first push down the middle of our double drive and into the road. Fortunately, the plows had not been through yet, so I’d get a jump on the bottom. They’d deposit at least six feet there before the day was over, so I needed to hurry. Then my snow shovel handle broke loose from the blade. Bastard!

Now I was in real trouble. I have another piece of crap shovel which I use for throwing the large deposits the plows put in the bottom of my drive, but you can’t push with it…and I’m a pusher. I brought the shovel back into the garage and started sorting through my miscellaneous bolt drawer looking for five that would reattach the blade to the handle. I didn’t want to try and make a trip to Home Depot through the drifts in the driveway…which would likely have been impossible anyway…but I found what I needed and was back in business in short order.

It took about an hour to shovel out the drive and I’d stripped down to jeans and a t-shirt to accomplish the task. I’d decided to work from home that morning, so I went back inside to watch the storm continue to roar while I made my calls and waited for the plow to come by and bury the bottom of the drive. He came a little after noon and angled his blade and pushed six tons of snow up towards the telephone pole on the tree lawn. Only two tons of his load made it there…the rest stayed in my driveway.

I waited for the snow to stop falling before heading back out. I spent another 90 minutes trying to remove the load and clean the rest of the drive again, though part of that was spent talking to my neighbors struggling with their snow blowers. I was determined to beat both of them with my shovel…and I did…but at a price. I made my last push and headed for the garage, waving and taunting with the last strength I possessed before closing the door and collapsing on the garage floor…where they couldn’t see me.

Oh yeah…since I didn’t want to consider snow removal a workout…I put 60 minutes on the bike after shoveling. I am so going to pay tomorrow.

Bike duration: 45 minutes. Shoveling duration: For freaking ever.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm biking. 250 bpm shoveling snow and cursing plowman.
Calories burned during workout: 900 biking. 17,000 shoveling snow.