NEVER spend eight hours working in a garden unless you're an Olympic athlete

Or unless you own a farm and you're already accustomed to working outside for more than an hour or two at a time.  Brilliant me decided to go down to my garden last Friday while I was off.  I got there around 10:30 am and immediately started shoveling mulch and laying thick layers of newspaper down to help combat the weeds that I hate pulling.

The sky was overcast and the temperature was great so after an hour of working I thought to myself, hey I might as well keep going and get as much done as I can, while I am in the mood.  I had water, shades, and my Ipod, so I was good to go.  I shoveled and hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of mulch.  I was on my hands and knees pulling up wild morning glories that had already infiltrated my green beans.  I'm telling you, both of my grandmothers, Christine and Donnie, were looking down on me from heaven smiling and channeling me their gardening prowess because I was in the zone.

3 pm came and went and I was still feeling energized so when my cousin came down to work her plots I even helped her mulch hers.  I  shoved and dumped and hoed, elated that my asthma hadn't reared it's ugly head all day.  The finishing touches on my day of work were staking the remainder of my tomatoes, hanging the mesh fence for my cucumbers to run on and stringing up the fence for my pole beans to run on.  I was a little sluggish by then, but still ok...or so I thought.

I headed for my car at exactly 6:35 pm and drove the 3 minute tops drive back home.  By the time I walked up the stairs and through the front door I was hunched over and my feet felt like fire ants had taken up residence in my Adidas.  My oldest daughter though someone had jumped on me I was walking so slow.

I took a shower and got in the bed after taking an Aleve.  I also learned an important lesson.  Unless your body is conditioned to constantly do heavy labor for long periods of time, DON'T PUSH IT.  To do so is a dummy move and one that I will not be repeating ever again.

Never again.  I don't care how good I feel, never again.  It hurt to walk, breathe, roll over, tilt my head...hell it hurts just thinking about it now.