No Spend March Update + The Heat is On

I heart spring.  For the first time in 2011 it was actually hot outside today.  YAYZIES!  Except, if you'll recall from my excessive bitching in the summer months, I don't like the hot weather.  Luckily this round of "hot" was only 73 degrees, but you'd better believe I was down to my booty running shorts and tank top (and still sweating like it's my j-o-b).  Not sure what I'll be donning when the weather ACTUALLY turns hot, but something tells me I should probably get to work on some core exercises.

Tonight I had an easy 8 miles with some striders thrown in.  I haven't ran since Sunday's 20 miler.  Last night I had plans to drag KK out for part of my 6 miler with me, but after his softball practice ran long (the kid knocked out 9 HRs out of 15 pitches...... tres impressive) and I was still sans ankle skin, I decided to give it a rest (day).  Also my calves were nice and tight, so he convinced me that if we didn't run, and watched LOST instead, he'd rub my legs.  As if that's even up for debate....

When I first started off on my run I kind of felt like I was going to die.  My legs were heavy and my breathing was off.  It reminded me of the lung burn you get after taking 6 months off from running.  Blech.  Within a minute that was gone, thank God, and the rest of the run was just dandy.  :)  My easy pace slid in to the low 9:30s, when it's been in the mid 9:40s lately, so that was nice.  During the final mile I threw in my 4x100 m. striders at (roughly) mile pace.  And ended up with (6:24, 6:38, 6:14, 6:13.)


I did 8 miles in 1:15:29 for a pace of 9:27.  Yippee skippy.

And since it's almost mid-April, I thought I'd update you on my No Spend March.  To put it mildly, it was a massive failure.  I did really well the first week and a half (as is documented in my updates previously) but then it was St. Patty's Day, and Guinesses aren't free (unfortunately).  And then my best friend came to town, and clearly BFFs have to eat delicious food together while catching up.  And then it's only natural for them to do a bit of shopping (I only spent $12 on this super cute Twins shirt, but still, I suck).  And then pedicures happened.  After that, I had Kyle's softball fundraiser to attend to, which I contributed some funds to.  So yeah, I failed.  But really I'm not upset about the failure, because one of my new years goals/resolutions/whatevs is to make myself be more social.  And everything that I spent money on was done while connecting with people I love to be with, so it's ok, I suppose.  I will be attempting this again sometime in the future.


I almost feel like this is the same reason I would never be able to maintain a diet.  I'm very all or nothing oriented so once I feel like I have "failed" at something, it's very easy to throw in the towel completely.  Pretty sweet quality, right?  :)


And three cheers to me for sending off my final grad school application today.  Fingers crossed!!!