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!!!

No Spend March Update + Pufferfish CUTENESS

No Spend March Update (halfway point):

Starbucks:
Week 1-$0.
Week 2-$4.24 I was doing good until last Friday.  Needed to HAVE ONE.

Food:  Week 1-$0  Groceries were within my budget (actually $11 under, hey-o!) and I've yet to splurge on any good (=restaurant) food.  Primarily because my stomach wanted to die after Saturday's long run, but whatev.
Week 2-$65.  Ugh.  Clearly I was starving on Saturday after the races, so I had to have dinner.  And a beer.  And then I got Kyle one for being a super great race spectator.  And then somehow that turned in to two (wtf?!).  And THEN I really wanted mexican food, so obviously we had to go there for lunch on Saturday.  Bad bad Jerbear.

Otherwise:
Week 1-$89.  Oops.  Groupon was having a great deal for 6 1-day punch cards for a fitness place in town.  And they have great classes.  Usually it's $10 for a day pass, and with the groupon it was $5.30.  Sooooo I got two of them.  Really it's saving me money from buying it at full price in the future, but still.  Kinda failed my challenge.  Also, I bought a super sweet (cheap!) Aaron Rodgers jersey back in January that I thought I didn't have to pay for til April, but apparently needs money NOW.  Sniffle.  So I had to pay for that too.
Week 2-$0.
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For Valentine's Day I got lots of sweet and loverly things.  One of my very favoritest things came from Jodee (p.s. if you don't read her blarg...yes blarg... you're dumb and should start immediately!  ok, not immediately... finish reading my post first then GO!)  I opened up the package and literally shrieked outloud.  Kyle was with me and he thought I had been poisoned or something.  Look. How. Cute. It. Is.

It's a little puffer fish, and it's the cutest thing ever.  Apparently there are over a hundred different ones you can collect, and I'm sorry to admit that I think I want them ALL!  His little eyes and mouth pull out from his face and his top removes from his bottom to which I exclaimed, "oh my God, you could store SECRETS IN THERE" and then KK asked if I was on crack.  For the record:  No.  Just high on puffer fish adorableness!  Thanks again Jodee.  To anyone else who would like to send me one to add to my collection, please message me for my address.  Jk.  Kinda.

Since I was too lazy to do my run Sunday, Monday after work was my first run post-Irishman festivities.  My shins were the only things that were sore on Sunday, so I was hoping there wasn't anything else lingering.  It was a tropical 40 degrees, and although there were 20 mph wind gusts, it was like a breeze compared to the horrific conditions from race day.  My legs even got to see the sun a little bit.  Yay capri pants.

Sadly I'm fairly certain these capris are made for yoga or perhaps dance.  They have no drawstring and they easily could've been around my ankles after 5 miles if I wasn't constantly a-hikin' them up.  There may have even been camel toe moments.  I justified it by saying that the higher up they were hiked, the farther I could run without having to re-hike.  Nbd.  I did 5 miles and for once in a long long time didn't hate where I lived.  Yayzies.

No Spend March

When I was a little tyke I was very very very good with my money.  I saved every penny that I ever earned or was given for Christmas/Birthday (=birthmas).  Upon opening my checking account before going off to college, I was surprised to find that I had $70 in a savings account.  Apparently I had told my mother to "put this in the bank for safe keeping" as a spritely 8 year old. 

It should come as no surprise then, that I am a credit counselor for a non-profit agency.  Luckily for me I am very good at budgeting very little money, because unluckily for me, I make very little money.  :)  While I definitely make enough money to get by, I tend to splurge when it comes to anything running related, because that's what brings me joy.  I have a separate savings account for races/travel for races/etc. (and my profits from my scarves go directly in to this account).  Lately I've been noticing this account dribble lower and lower.  And my spending habits have been a lot less on point (uh... hello there online shopping..... let's make googly eyes at each other in the quad....).

Enter: No Spend March!  For the month of March, I will be putting a spending freeze on myself.  Eep!  Outside of my normal monthly financial obligations (ie:  car payment, rent, electricity... feel free to insert Glee's version of Bills Bills Bills here...) I hope to spend zero monies!  Full disclosure:  Back in January, I registered for all races through May, so this is usually something I budget for and would normally have come out this month, but I planned ahead.  Maybe it's cheating.... but whatever.  There are definitely some things I want-want-want right now:  a desk, for example.  But there are zero things I need, so I'll be sticking to that.

As far as food and beverage items, I will be curbing my starbucks consumption for the month (I typically limit myself to one latte a week) and for food I tend to go 100% nut-so during marathon training because as Kyle would say in a growly voice when I get crabby, "Jerbear is hungry!!!"  I will allow myself to go out for food once per week, but will really try to do it on the cheap/utilize gift cards (except for my 20 miler day, because I'm already craving Redrossa margherita pizza and cheese bread.... mmmmmmmmmm!).

Anything extra I save for the month will go directly to my running savings account to help fatten 'er up again.  Who's with me?  (And by who's with me... I actually mean.... who's taking me out for foooooooooood this month?!?!?  jk.....)

My Weekly Wish List/Weekly I Want posts may be out of control this month.  You've been warned!!

Tuesday before work I did 3.5 easy miles, which were not so easy due to the slick snow and ice.  I forget that when you run in the morning, everything that was nice and thawed from the warmer day before is now iced over again due to the freezing night time temps.  Drat.  I did 4 x 100 m striders during the last mile ~mile pace per speedy Jason's suggestion.  I kind of love striders.... definitely make an easy (=boring) run more enjoyable.