Thrift Power!

I’m gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket

I’m, I’m, I’m hunting, looking for a come up, this is fucking awesome!

For those who know me well, I hate spending money on clothes. I am really cheap, and although I do appreciate a well made piece of clothing, I rarely splurge on something that is over $20. So, it should not come as a surprise that my favorite clothing stores are actually thrift shops. I have three of them within 15 minute driving distance: Talize, Value Village and The Salvation Army, ordered by the quality of their merchandise. What I really like about these stores is that you can find brand name clothing that fits well for dirt cheap. If I were to buy the exact same piece of clothing new, it would cost me 10 times more, so why bother? And no, I don't care about bugs, that's what a good washer and dryer are for. Never had a single problem in the 10 years that I've been buying most of my clothes from these stores.

Anyway, you'd think that I should not be spending any money now that I am unemployed, but it's actually good therapy when you know that you only shop twice a year and now you have a good reason for it. I don't have many clothes that are "corporate" attire, given that my previous company was all about jeans and tees and I needed a bit of mental boost in looking for clothes to wear at my next (hopefully coming soon) interview. I already had the black dress pants, I bought those at Ricki's before I went to CES in January. This week I was on a hunt for shoes and a top. I came across a pair of shoes last week at Sears in downtown Toronto for 75% off in the sales section, and found a second, more relaxed pair as well, so I took both for $80 (bottom two pairs, the top two were found at Talize for less than $8).

But back to the thrift stores, yesterday I adventured myself in Talize, my favorite of all (very good quality, as you can see from the pictures). With all this talk about Lulu Lemon, I was curious if I'd come across something from there, as in a hoodie or a pair of shorts. I actually did find a hoodie, but was so small, only one of my boobs would fit in, plus the color was poopy (literally) and the fabric was  hard, thick cotton. It had a Lulu patch on the arm, but I didn't have scissors with me to make it mine. However, in the process I did come across a few "technical" hoodies (with more or less hood), which fit perfectly (did I mention that I needed clothes that actually fit me now that I've lost weight?) and one official Team Canada Olympic Games  which I had been eyeing for years, in red nonetheless!! 

I may have gone overboard with 4 hoodies, but these are going to last me for a long, long time. You can't go wrong with $25 for the four of them. Plus, everyone around me must be really tired of my Pink Floyd hoodie, my only hoodie until today. Next, as I said, I went looking for shorts, especially running shorty shorts because I was curious to try a pair of those without spending $75 as I saw at the Running Room (no chaffing is ever worth that much!). No Lulu shorts again, but found a pair of Sugoi! They are dark brown, which is not one of my favorite colors, but since I have a yellow tee, I don't risk to upset the fashion gods too much, they kinda go together well. I also came across a pair of Champion shorts, which I hope won't run up my legs. I will test them today!

Last but not least, knowing how swim suits go for $80 and up, I went to check those as well and there were so many of them, I had a really hard time choosing, so I picked up 3. One of them is a brand new Speedo, that will soon replace the one I use in the pool right now and which is in the process of disintegrating, the other two I will use at the beach because they also fit me really well (no boob spillage!) and they have a little vintage look that I like.

Are we done yet? What about the dress top? Oh yeah, found that one too, a very nice, light and funky top from Le Chateau, for the price of $4.99. No need to iron it! How much you said? Less than 5 bucks, alright, because that's how I roll! Now here is my interview combo, ladies and gentlemen, hope it will bring me luck!

In total, I spent $75 at Talize yesterday and I came home with everything you see. With the other $80 spent at Sears, I think I did pretty good and stayed on a budget. You can certainly congratulate me for not having bought the vintage spin bike or one of the fabulous leggings below. Now that's will power!

What did you splurge on recently? Do you ever shop at thrift stores?

UPDATE: Because inquiring minds most likely want to know. Did the Champion shorts ride up or not? Tadaaaa:

Not at all! Or not enough for me to notice. Which means, I may be running in these on Sunday at the Goodlife Toronto Half Marathon. Win!!

I am hooked

And I am in trouble. At only one week before the marathon, I bought a pair of minimalist shoes, the New Balance Minimus WR00 and today I took them on my last long run. Even though I am now on my couch icing my calves, the experience of running in those is still lingering in my brain like a powerful drug. For the first time ever I understand what running "free" means.

The workout was supposed to be 1h40 long and after talking to my coach this morning, the advice he gave me was to stop at the first sign of trouble. For having been in trouble a lot in the past, I think I knew what trouble felt like, so off I went, light on my feet like a newborn butterfly. The kilometers flew one after another and up until km 10, I felt ah-mah-zing. But then my legs started feeling a bit challenged in the calf area and my right Achilles got cranky too, so I turned the knobs down a little and decided to cut it short so I don't freak out.

Made it back home in a bit less than 1h30, stretched the hell out of my leg muscles, tendons and everything in between (oh wait, there is nothing in between according to my old anatomy book), then went out to look for flowers to plant in my backyard. At the store, I mean, not in a field or a dump, just thought I'd mention it. Ok this is getting weird, and totally unrelated. Moving on... literally. All flowers were gone, by the way, so I bought a pot of ornamental chili peppers and an air plant.

Alas I am not ready to run a marathon in these shoes just yet, but that's the problem, I cannot shake the absolutely freaking fantastic feeling I had while wearing them. Now what do I do? Besides, they gave me no blisters, nada. My toes were also feeling like they were in a luxury penthouse apartment in there, no rubbing anywhere. Plus they weigh as much as a feather, so going back to my older shoes is going to be like wearing platform shoes made of lead.

I am hooked. Here is a nice review I found about the Minimus, thankfully there are people much better than me to write this kind of things. I have 6 more days to make myself believe that it's going to be ok NOT wearing them at the marathon. I know for sure that I'm going to suffer anyway, but battling blisters and the weight of my old shoes will certainly be better than battling calf cramps. I now have another reason to keep on running, a marathon in the Minimus is the next goal!

Minimalist at last

After a week of flying planes, riding trains, cars, taxis and running across Paris and London in high heels, I am really thankful for being back home with my family. The trip was rather exhausting and not only because it started with one of the longest and most difficult training runs I've ever done... but also because of the constant state of movement that followed, all while fighting jetlag madness and juggling 3 languages. Needless to say, I had planned 2 more runs and a swim during this time, but none of those happened. I came back feeling fat and bloated and no surprise there, my scale let me know that I've eaten too many desserts, cheeses and glasses of wine.

But even more aggravating, the night before flying back home I discovered that the Universe had thanked me with an ingrown nail on my left big toe, which was SO painful, I could NOT put the foot down to walk without getting tears in my eyes. The pain was at the bottom and side of the nail and of course, the toe was all red and swollen. So for two days I walked with a limp, which gave me ankle and shin pains in return. Since then it got better thanks to a constant dose of antibiotic ointment and foot baths in hot water with a ton of salt (thanks to my friend Carrie for the tip!). I think I caught it on time, but man oh man, why do I have to pay back in pain what I get for good luck? There must be balance in everything I guess.

On Friday night I had to do a 1h negative split run and I fought really hard with my mind to abstract the pain. I managed to get through it and finish the workout, but thanks to the rain that offered a nice distraction. Today, Saturday, we went downtown to the MEC store to find some running clothes for the fall and winter seasons for hubbs. We left half of our paycheck there and I, too, returned home with something new. My first pair of minimalist shoes, the New Balance Minimus WR00 with zero-zero as in zero drop. I fell in love the second I put them on. They are so light and my toes swim in a very large toebox, and I can already dream of leaving blisters and pain behind. I am planning to take them tomorrow on my 1h40 run. A bit risky 7 days from the marathon, but at this moment I am rather desperate because of a deep and extremely painful blister that has been plaguing my runs for a month. The only way to get rid of it methinks, is to find a shoe that rubs somewhere else. Between blisters and ingrown nails, I have enough pain to test my HTFU threshold on, dammit.

I doubt that I'll be able to run a full marathon in those yet, but it's a good start. Oh, and if you see purple in the picture above, it's the stupid Instagram filter that I chose, they are actually deep blue, almost black. Everything else looks accurate. Between us, I am a bit nervous to run in those as I am not going to have a big fat heel to fall back on if I get tired, but I may survive after all, it shouldn't be for nothing all the forefoot strike running that I've been doing since training for this marathon. Actual results tomorrow, over and out.

Basking in the runner's high

Long run today with chilly temperatures, but motivation was high, let me tell you why. I woke up this morning and ate 2 small homemade cherry cheese danishes (I can never say "no" to those) and a glass of butter milk for breakfast, then went to do the grocery shopping with hubbs. By the time I decided to go out for my run, my breakfast was pretty much gone, so I made sure I take a pouch of GU Chomps with me and enough water to keep me fuelled and hydrated. Somewhere along the road though, the Chomps jumped out of my pocket and by the time I hit the 5K mark and decided to eat some, they were nowhere to be found. I panicked for a minute there, but then I reminded myself how I only learned about eating during the long runs a month before my second half marathon. So if I could do it then, I should be able to do it now too! I chose to suck it up and keep on going, I still had about 10K ahead of me. I tried to stay relaxed and keep my pace on target which was easier said than done, come the last 5K where a nasty head wind was waiting for me.
My Raynaud's attacks didn't spare me, especially in those last few miles when I started to feel cold and cranky. I was afraid I would run out of mental and muscular juice, but my body was feeling great and no pain in sight other than my fingers that were crying inside my gloves. Thank goodness for no toes attacks today because I was upset enough for running with wet feet, thanks to the endless number of puddles that I jumped in, when jumping over was too much of a deal.

Surprisingly enough, today my feet didn't hurt like in the last few runs, where pain would install itself in the arches of my feet after a mile or two. My coach said that I should check the mileage on my regular Adidas adiSTAR shoes, which I did today and guess what? I run 519 miles in them so, um... it was time. I gave my newer, still nice and clean Adidas Glide2, a loving look before taking them in those puddles and hallelujah, the pain didn't creep in this time. What a difference a new pair of shoes make!! I am glad that I bought 2 more pairs just like those on eBay today, I should have enough pairs to destroy until next year. I was really surprised with how little those adiSTAR shoes lasted though, these were the most expensive pair I've ever owned. I remember using the old New Balance for over a year until they self-disintegrated and I could still run pain free in them. Even those Glide2 came out 1 year before the adiSTAR, so I guess they are making them such that they last less and less... That's such a shame. I'm glad I could snatch 2 more pairs of those Glide2 before they disappear from the radar. So far I run about 50-60 miles in them and not a single blister or pain, so these are GOLDEN!

So, shoes aside, where was I? Right, in the last 5K of my run. Wind, cold and all, I made it back home in 1h40 and beat my 15K PB from a year ago by 7 minutes!! I am so damn happy, I am still basking in the runner's high, even 6h after it ended. Now if I can only repeat this performance during my next race, the Around the Bay 15K relay on March 25. I will be running it with hubbs, as my running buddy, Carol, is unfortunately injured. New for this year is the hill in the second leg of the race which I will have to climb for the first time. Hope those hill repeats will come in handy then. Until the next time!