Last Sunday, my company took a bunch of us peons up to Hunter Mountain for a little winter action. I had signed up to do some snowboarding and take a lesson.
Well, I spent the day there. And I spent about...ohhh.... 20 minutes on the hill.
i got there late. So, it wasn't until around noon o'clock that I got my lift ticket. Then I got my stuff. They had boots in just my size. They felt great! So, I walk outside and put my feet in the board. After about a second, I take them off. They just didn't feel right.
So, I wait to take a group lesson. At Hunter Mountain, they have beginner lessons happening every 15 minutes all day long. One just left, so I had to wait 15 minutes. And so, I took the time to buy new snow goggles.
Here's an important tip: do not buy your snow goggles in the rest stop off the highway. They are crap. You can't see through them. And super expensive. I bought a 43 dollar piece of crap that ended up in the garbage can of the Hunter lodge mens room. And the goggles I bought in the lodge where you would think it would be super expensive? 23 bucks. sweet!
Anyways, my lesson went like this: Hunter Mountain was dead that day. It was super cold. There were all of 2 of us in my group--me and some goofy Polish guy. Polish because he said he was from Poland. And goofy because that's what they call it when you put your right foot in the front of your board. So, the instructor is a young lad. And he just teaches us how to get into our boards.
We walk up the hill and slide down it. It's a small hill. But man, sliding down took tons of energy. And even more energy to slide around on the board back up the hill. I made it up the hill once then slid down it again. After I made it down the second time, I decided to quit. I was just standing there bent over with my hands on my knees. My muscles ached and I couldn't imagine making up that hill again. I was kinda mad. I just had no energy whatsoever to do this.
You're talking to the guy who around this same time last year ran 14 miles in one day. To think that I've gone downhill that much in one year.
The instructor was just about to take us up the lift and down the hill. But I let them go ahead. That guy got a private lesson.
And I returned my stuff and went back to the lodge to do a whole bunch of sitting. Frank and kin made it up there and we hung out for a while. Took Kalin out to play in the cold for a bit. It was so damn cold. The kind of cold that just seems to bite at your face. Kalin didn't seem to think it was cold. Crazy kid.
So, the final word on snowboarding. I need a lot more stamina in order to snowboard. This is something I definitely have to train up to. I will tell my doctors about having no energy and maybe they'll up my dosage of thyroid hormone. But, the fact is that i have gained 20 pounds since last year and I have no energy.
Posted by joel at February 27, 2006 11:56 PM