Aerobic Painting

Saturday, November 12, 2011
John had gotten the keys to their new house the day before and had plans to paint the entire interior of the place.  I reminded him that I’d painted professionally and that I’d be glad to come over and give a hand.

“Dude...I didn’t know you painted for a living,” he said.

“Well...I’m thinking it’s one of the many things I’ve told you about myself over the years that you don’t remember because you aren’t really listening to me,” I replied.  I do tend to offer up a lot of information...some of which may contain spatters of embellishment...so I suppose I could cut him some slack...but I didn’t.

Anyway, I’d convinced his wife, Teri, that doing ceilings when the house was empty was a good idea.  I was right, but after three bedroom ceilings, cut-in for those same three rooms and rolling the walls of one over the next nine hours, I was shot.  My neck was killing me from arching back to do the ceilings and to see through my bifocals to do the trim and cutting.  No amount of training prepares you for this kind of work...you just do it and whine later.  Or you could start whining while you’re doing it.  I chose the latter.

Savannah and Holly had decided it would be a good idea to see ‘Contagion’ which was playing at the cheap theatre.  We decided on the late show so I could paint longer.  I knew there would be no time for a workout, but I made sure to hustle throughout the day making my painting and aerobic event.  I drove home, showered and we left immediately.  Matt Damon was terrific in his role in the movie, as was Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Kate Winslet.  I can’t say much about it without spoiling the story, but you can’t watch it and not come away thinking about what you touch and how easily germs are spread.  It kind of confirms what I’ve always thought about the futility of sanitizing your hands.  Anyway, it’s definitely worth seeing.

Aerobic Painting:  9 hours.

Training Heart Rate: 75 bpm…except for a couple of jumps when I put paint where I didn’t want paint.
Calories burned during workout:  1800.