Ready to run.
Jill and I love to go running.
Sadly, because of the pollution in Beijing, we were not able to run nearly as much as we wanted to each day.
It became a struggle to be motivated since we’d have 3 or 4 days of decent weather and air quality and then a week of deathly pollution.
We ended up giving up and knew we’d get back into it once we arrived back in the USA.
We are now getting ready to get in shape and start our working out.
Part of this endeavor has also been to minimize as much as possible. We are close to being down to one suitcase each, and maybe a day pack, for our travels.
Therefore, when we buy something, we need to get rid of something else.
This includes running shoes.
I’ve had the same pair of running shoes for about 2 years now and they are in horrible shape.
We walked over to the Petaluma Outlet Mall and went to the Adidas store. They are having a buy one get half off the second sale and so we took stock of what we have, and what we can get rid of, to see if it was worth having two pairs of tennis shoes.
I knew I’d dump my old tennis shoes when I bought these so there is one piece gone. I also won’t really need my dress shoes after a month or so because we won’t have much business that requires us to dress up by the time we leave for Los Angeles to stay with my friends Christopher and Tina.
I also got rid of one backpack, full of clothes, 2 days ago that was full of winter clothes I’d no longer need. I also donated my winter jacket to a friend who will give it to one of his social work clients. We could probably sell some of these things but it is just easier to give them away and help the needy at the same time.
Therefore, my pack has gotten much lighter and I could afford to have two pairs of shoes. The sale also allowed me to buy one pair for 39.99 and the second for about 15 dollars. Adidas is also having a 5 dollars off promotion when you donate your old pair of shoes.
The sum total for 2 pairs of brand new shoes for me? $54.99.
Jill and I ran home, me wearing one pair of my new shoes, and carrying one of the pair in one arm, while Jill wore her shoes she bought 3 weeks ago and carried the other shoe to my pair in her arm, about 2 miles.
A good work out, a good lightening of our load, and a good start to be more fit and frugal at the same time.
By the way, I’m off for a 2 mile run right now. The weather is perfect, the air quality is fantastic, and I just had a nice healthy breakfast of yogurt and fresh strawberries.
It is so nice to be home.