RUN Wenatchee

Lately, my husband and I have been working on trying to stick with a budget. It’s not very easy for either of us, but we both would like to retire sometime this century so have really tried to pay attention to where our money is spent.

In the spirit of saving money, last week I found my running shoes on sale. I’m not talking a little bit of a sale; I’m talking about a HUGE close-out sale. One pair was 40% of the original cost! So what was my initial thought, ladies? My initial thought was that I, of course, needed to buy all six pair of them in my size. I would save hundreds of dollars!

My second thought, however, seemed to take the form of my husband’s voice wondering why in the world there are six boxes of new running shoes in our closet. So, I settled on buying two pair.

I then told my husband about my purchase, thinking that he would be equally as excited as I about this deal. I was utterly disappointed when he did not share even a little bit of my excitement. Clearly, this is further proof that men are from Mars.

In my disappointment, I went over how I would do things differently if I had a do-over (and how I will learn from this experience for next time). Rather than reason with myself and agree on just buying two pairs of running shoes, I should have called him and, in my excitement, informed him of the great deal I could get on running shoes. I then should have told him I was thinking about buying six pair, given the outrageously good deal, knowing full well that I would be happy with two pair. Then, when he likely would have said that six is probably too many and suggested that I purchase less, I would agree. And rather than wonder why in the heck I needed two pair of running shoes when they came in the mail, he would be so happy with our negotiation, knowing that he was the sole reason that there were not six boxes of new running shoes in the closet. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a re-do button?

Anyway, armed with my new shoes, which always make me feel faster, I headed to the gym this weekend to do my tempo work. The treadmill is a great tool for some runs, not all, in my opinion. I am terrible at pacing myself, so in order to hit the appropriate speed for the tempo work, I often times run on the treadmill.  Guess who was not feeling so fast after the first 2/3rd of the workout? Yes, me, even in my new shoes. These workouts are getting HARD!

So I talk to the Boss Man this morning about this new development. Should I totally scale back my pace? Not do as long of efforts? Am I going to be slow the rest of my life?

“Not to worry”, says Boss Man. This week, I do the same workout as last week; just add in a bit of additional rest between and in between efforts. Also, I need a gel shot before and in the middle of the workout.

Easy enough. I’m feeling pretty good now that I not only have a plan for future negotiations with my husband, but also have a plan to get through that grueling workout next week.