When You Can't Run, Shovel.

And so it was, the Blizzard of 2011...

It was cool Tuesday night when work sent out an email saying we could leave early. (It's amazing how excited I get about leaving work two hours early.) The storm was not cool when I was on a bus on Lake Shore Drive, but it did get me home. The storm was awesome Tuesday night when I found out I didn't have to go in to the office Wednesday.

The blizzard really showed me Wednesday morning when Dave and I went outside. Holy abandoned cars and huge snow drifts. Whereas on a normal day I like that I live less than a block from the Lake, it didn't work to our advantage in the storm.

After riding out most of Wednesday in my place, I was going stir crazy. I was home from work. I couldn't run. The yoga studio was closed. So I did a 45 minute ride on the (bike) trainer. I must have not ridden hard enough, because shortly after that, I found myself gearing up to go outside and attack this:


My car, engulfed by a snow drift. Not to mention the 3 to 4 ft. snow drifts in the alley. I went at it for a few hours, then went to bed.

Wednesday night I found out the office was closed on Thursday as well, so you know what that means - more time to shovel.

I spent around two hours Thursday morning continuing what I'd started Wednesday night. Took a break for lunch, then went back out for another two hours of shoveling fun. The alley was so quiet. Every once and awhile I'd hear a plane fly overhead and the sound of neighboring shovels.

Almost everyone passing by had something to say about my project. Some of them just smiled or said 'that sucks.' One guy told me 'They made gyms for that!' I responded that I was shoveling for sport. He didn't quite know what to say to that and decided to keep walking. So, thank you, random alley man, you get credit for the blog idea.

The end product was a dug out car and a path through the alley.


I felt quite accomplished after this task, so I proceeded to go out in to the street. I had checked the street earlier Thursday morning to see it still hadn't been plowed. Dave's car was stuck on my street and I wanted to help free it so he could drive to work that night. But now when I checked the street, I saw that a small plow had made it down my street. Dave's car still had to be dug out a bit, but with the help of one of my neighbors, we did it.

I should have taken an after photo for his car, but here's what it looked like Wednesday morning:


I think it's safe to say I got my workout in. I was happy to return to work Friday where I was not asked to shovel.