Stop Laughing.
Running
Running on a budget.
Clearly, as evidenced by my post following my adventures in Targetland, I’m not always the budget guru, however, when it comes to running on a budget, I kinda know the tips and tricks.
This came up the other day, when a friend, who is very cool and very very tatted up, mentioned that she loves to run, but that a pair of running shoes is nearly an entire one of her paychecks.
I totally get that. I’ve been there before, and I feel so fortunate to not have to scrounge for shoes and some technical gear any longer.
So, I cannot stress to you enough how important good gear is. If you want to avoid chafing, blisters, bunions, heel pain, the whole 9, you need to spend money on your stuff. But how can you afford the stuff? (Seriously, I just got a pair of tights that costed $90, so I feel you.)
- Recognize that the pricier stuff, both shoes and gear, is generally superior to the less-expensive stuff from Wal-Mart or Target. I’ve worn both. Sure, the less pricey stuff definitely has its perks – it’s great for bumming around, long drives, and sometimes, for the occasional workout. But if you’ve ever tried to wear a cotton t-shirt during a hot, sweaty workout and it’s turned into a dress on you, you know that sometimes, the more-expensive stuff is worth it.
- Once you recognize that it might be worth it, let’s strategize on how we’re gonna save dem dollas.
- Pay for one anchor piece full-price. That’s right, shell out that $110 for a pair of shoes at a running specialty place like a Fleet Feet, so you know what kind of shoe you need. Get the whole fitting. Let them fit you for a bra. Try on some pieces of clothing that you think you might like or need. And leave the store, guilt-free, with your new pair of shoes, and an idea of what your size might be in some other apparel.
- So let’s say you were fitted for something like the Brooks Ghost 6. You know what you’re in now, right? So there are a few things you can do to save money at this point. Number one, ask your local Fleet Feet, or whatever running specialty store if they have a customer rewards program. You may get 10% off of your next pair of shoes, a free pair of socks, or something along those lines!
- Ask the person fitting you if there is any discount for teachers or miltary.
- Keep your eyes peeled for anytime your store might be having a sale, because often when a shoe is moving to its new model, the older model may be discounted.
- As far as gear, shop in the off-season! Shop the racks the end of winter and the end of summer, and you should be able to get some staple pieces to be able to use year-round at a pretty reasonable price.
What are you favorite tips for running on a budget?
Calling all my social workers! A post on self-care.
Self-care is a big buzzword in social work land. (For those of you just kinda tuning in, I’m a runner, a Zumba instructor, a blogger, and a social worker, all usually within the same week). Anyhoo, like I was saying, self-care is a big word in social work land, mainly because burnout in social work is really prevalent. We work really really hard with very little pay, all because we love people, and we love to serve people. If HIPAA wasn’t a thing, I’d talk to you all day and all night about my clients, and how phenomenal they are, but I guess I have to respect their right to privacy, right?
But it’s hard. There were two weeks last month that I truly thought I wasn’t cut out for the work, after some clients were especially horrible to me, that after viewing the puffy stress eyes, that I was ready to quit the job, and blog full time. But here I am, and I’m starting to recognize that self-care is really important, and not just something that we should be joking about in the office.
Self-care means….
- Going for my runs. And I make sure I do it 5-6 times a week, but sometimes, I don’t bathe myself in the runs like I should. I shouldn’t be thinking about notes, about deadlines, about my to-do list. I need to do my runs, and be present for the runs.
- Not mindlessly scrolling through my phone. I’ve found myself, before bed, mindlessly scrolling through my phone before bed. I don’t need to do that. I need to actually sleep when I’m in bed.
- Throwing myself into the things I enjoy. I enjoy teaching, dancing, planning my wedding, reading, blogging, running, going to yoga, and I need to quit doing that thing where I divide my mind time. If I’m running, I need to be present. If I’m teaching, my mind is only there. If I’m planning, my mind is all on me and what my future husband are doing. Blogging? I’m all yours.
- Recognizing when I’m tired. There’s a difference between sleep and tired. And sometimes I have troubles recognizing when I’m exhausted, tired, and when I just need to slow things down. This weekend, when I opened my eyes on Sunday morning on Fripp, I was so happy, so in love with life, so in love with the beach, and I recognized that not only did I sleep like a rock, that I am tired.
- Booking a room for myself at the Westin in Georgetown to run the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Half Marathon. I’m checking into a hotel in a beautiful part of DC, and I will be ghost, snuggling in a king-sized bed by myself, taking a bath, reading a book, and thinking about why my life is so beautiful!
What are you doing to care for yourself, beautiful readers?
Garmin 610 Surprise
Do you guys ever find out your technology can do something you didn’t know it could do?
With my Garmin, I learn something new like every day with that thing.
So when I first got it two birthdays ago, I used to primarily to run, and nothing else. Because I got it as a gift for my birthday, and I didn’t pay the $300 some-odd for it, it never occurred to me to use the crap out of it and get my money’s worth. It wasn’t until I started training for my 789 half marathons I’m doing that I figured out I could use it for intervals, and a bunch of other cool stuff.
So over the weekend on Fripp, I got it in my head to get some beach cruisers so we could ride around, see the island some more, and get our exercise in for the day.
For some reason, it popped into my head that the Garmin 610 could be used for cycling as well. I’m not sure where I’d heard that, because I never read instructions, but after literally like 30 seconds of playing with the watch, I figured out how to put it into cycling mode, and was able to use it while we cruised. Now it was only a 5 mile ride, but it was awesome to be able to see what other amazing things the watch could do!
Ever found out that your technology can do something incredible?
Weekend Update – get prepped, this post is a doozy!
So a few weeks ago, I got an email from a friend, Kelly, with whom I went to Elon with. Kelly invited me, the dog, and the husband-to-be to Fripp, SC, an island off the coast of South Carolina, to relax for the weekend. The trip was a blast.
So, on Saturday morning, I got the dog up, fed my cat, dragged a very sleepy Austin out of his bed, and we hit the road for 5 hours to make it to our home, which was stunning.
We headed to the beach, ran on the beach, enjoyed dinner, got bikes, cooked, and drank to our little heart’s content. I made sure to take pics so that you guys could see what we did!
Beach fun as soon as we got to Fripp. That’s Nate photobombing us in the background. 
I am an awful dog mom. I put Coco into the fake gators mouth and she actually let me do it! 
Then we actually saw a real gator. He’s a little guy, and he lives in the pond, so I made sure to keep Coco away from the pound. 
This was our view! Can you even believe this?
Party Austin was ready for a good time.
This was us at dinner 🙂
I Usually never ever eat cream soups, but since we were on vacation, I figured it was okay, right? Good call, because it was freaking delicious. 
Nothing would be complete without Austin climbing on something.
American Idol contestant Candice Glover lived on St. Helena and worked on Fripp evidently, because her stuff was everywhere! 
I ate this with zero shame after we got a few beach cruisers to ride around on.
Bikes!
Hubs on a bike!
We didn’t take enough pics together this weekend.
We practiced my new last name.
We stopped on the way out of the island at a place called Sheldon Church, a historical site outside of Beaufort that burned down. I literally whimpered on the way out. I hope you guys had a good weekend, and enjoyed some of our photos. What was your weekend like?
My brother fractured his wrist.
This is my brother. We look exactly the same, except he’s a boy, and I’m a girl, last I checked.
He’s extremely athletic, and when I’m at home, usually we do something fun together, sometimes running related, as pictured above.
So imagine how much I almost died when I got this text from my mom around 11:30 yesterday morning.
So evidently, my brother was dunking on someone. Don’t worry, per a very reliable source, he completed the dunk before landing – HARD – on his wrist.
So my mom said Little Derek was really complaining that his wrist was hurting, and this morning, she took him to the ortho to get it set.
So Derek is casted up for 6 weeks – no tennis, and he goes back in two weeks for them to redo the cast.
Poor kid. I’m so sad!
Tell me about your broken bones. Have you ever broken a bone?
I have, and it wasn’t pretty. Happy Thursday, y’all!
Random schtuff.
Hi!
I’m back to civilization, and while I absolutely loved my visit with my parents, I am super glad to be back. I missed my honey, and my cat, and hanging out with my frands.
You guys ready for some Wednesday randomness?
- First and foremost, I am so freaking sick of winter weather. I mean, how much more can we take? I have run so many miles on a treadmill this year that I am sick of every single song, and every single movie I’ve been watching all winter. But hey, at least I have a warm bed to sleep in at night.
- How cute is this Sweaty Band? I wore it for a few hours while I taught/grabbed a quick dinner from Whole Foods tonight and I got compliments on it (those are mustaches on it, in case you can’t tell). But not to fear, we’ll be having a little Sweaty Band giveaway really really soon 🙂
- This dinner from Whole Foods tonight.
I could not muster the energy to cook anything tonight. So I grabbed this cup of carrot ginger soup, a beer, and grabbed some extra soup for lunch tomorrow. It’s SO good. If you have it at your WF, totally grab some (as long as you’re into spices – the ginger really really spices this thing up.) Heat it up super super hot, and it is amazing 🙂
This horrid creature has taken residence on my ceiling. I’m too grossed out to do anything to him, and he’s disappeared now, so I’m really just hoping with all my heart that he hasn’t fallen into my hair.
- Lily Allen has further proved how amazing she is by donning this Yonce belt. I’m still extremely bitter that Bey only felt the need to release Partition, but I think I’ll manage to get over it somehow.
- This Geico commerical.
Almost as good as the Dikembe Mutombo commerical from last year. But still pretty good 🙂
Tell me something random about your Wednesday!
Blogmopolitan Quiz Part Dos!
I’m sorry, that quiz I posted a few days ago was so fun, so I decided to do it again, with a few changes and a few more answers. Again, I totally yanked the quiz from Two Thirds Hazel, who is my American Idol, as far as blogs are concerned. (Seriously, her blog is so pretty!)
Okay, here goes!
A few takeaways from this quiz?
- I love my black eyeliner. Seriously, when Amy Winehouse burst onto my scene, mid-college, not only was I totally obsessed with her music and amazing voice, but her tats and eyeliner were, and continue to bet the bombest of any eyeliner that anyone in Hollywood bangs with.
- I hate mushrooms. I don’t care how vegetarian I am, I wish people would stop putting a giant mushroom on a hamburger bun and claiming that I’m supposed to enjoy something that tastes like dirt.
- Teen pop = delicious, and I really get annoyed by people who just hate teen pop for the sake of hating it. Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Miley, Justin Bieber, One Direction. I truly enjoy that music. Don’t get me wrong, I love the classics as well, but try running the last mile of a marathon to Hall and Oates, and you’ll get what I mean about the teeny boppers. They have their place!
- Like 4 people call me Cher. My college roommate, anyone from Twisted Measure, my college a cappella group, and my cousins. If you are not one of those people, it’s probably best not to call me Cher.
Your turn! Do ittttt! Link me up! Link her up! I wanna see yo answers!
End-of-weekend recap.
Hey folks! I hope you’re having an amazing weekend, my weekend has been nothing short of insanely busy, and my life shows no signs off slowing down for the next few weeks. But I can’t complain, I think my problem is one of the most beautiful to have, and I’d rather a little too much to do, than too little.
That said, when I finally get my house painted/get my car cleaned/get my wedding save-the-dates sent out/get bills paid, I might be a little more relaxed than I am now.
Now onto the weekend recap!
I worked at Fleet Feet North Raleigh on Saturday, which was pretty amazing. I actually don’t dread ever going to work there – and it’s really always nice to be around like-minded, good fitness people, who you don’t really get as much of when you’re working in an office, like I do during the week. Sometimes, it’s a little tiresome being the freak in the office when you brings salads for a lunch. At Fleet Feet, you’d sometimes WISH someone would bring a damned Lean Cuisine up in that piece cause the little fridge would be stuffed with people’s healthy lunches!
So Sunday, I had to head home with a friend for a memorial service, so I put Coco’s Thundershirt on her, packed her in the car, and headed home.
She was a really good sport, and endured the trip pretty well, which is good because we’re going to the beach next weekend, and she’s gonna have to hold up for a few hours. But we’ll stop for lots of coffee and bathroom breaks for her, and we’ll get her a little more used to the car.
I walked into my parents’ home, and looky what was sitting on my dad’s bar! So I promptly took it to read while I was running my 5 on his treadmill. I still love Bieber, and I know he’s gonna pull through this rough time.
And now, here I sit, blogging to you all from the relative comfort of a McDonald’s dining room, because the WiFi at my parents’ house needs life support. Is it a law that that WiFi at all old peoples’ house has to be horridly spotty at best? It really doesn’t seem to bother them!
So the plan tomorrow before I pack it in and head back is to wake up semi-early, run, spend some time with my Moms, and head out to Raleigh with the dog before we get more snow. This blasted snow is going to cause me to kick a hole in a wall, I swear it.
How was your weekend, beautiful folks?
Overactive Blogger 