This is my snack of choice for this week's episode (and by week I mean year, because I didn't even take this picture tonight, I already had it on my phone...from November. I sent it to about 4 different people, because that is what my friends and I gossip about: Food. By the way, if you've never experienced Garden Fresh Salsa...well, there just aren't even words.)
So, back to running. Unfortunately I don't have any runs to report as of Sunday (I chose going to the gym today after work over running because being in Southwest Michigan today we are on the cusp of a HUGE Blizzard...at least that's what the radar maps would lead us to believe). I want to address the topic of expensive runningwear, and how truly upset it makes me when I lose these purchases. Lucky for all of you, both of these stories have a happy ending (but I don't want to give away too much...)
Saucony Running Gloves. Black and BRIGHT Orange. $40.
I know, I can't look myself in the eye either. $40 for running gloves. But they turn from mitten to glove, and one has a ridiculously bright blinking light built in (for my characteristic night runs, yet I can never bring myself to use it..oh well). Much to the chagrin of my friends/co-workers (and boyfriend) I wore these as my everyday cold weather gloves for the better part of a year. That was until one went missing. Not only did I need these to shield my hands from the elements during my thrice-daily snow removal from my car (maybe 3 times a day is a bit of a stretch, BUT IT'S MICHIGAN PEOPLE!), but that one glove is $20 worth of merchandise! As my friend Dan put it "If you lose one glove of a set, is that $20 worth of merchandise? Or really more like thirty or forty? What is the value of one glove? Is it just half the value of the set? Or is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?" Yes, I was so upset I had to seek out friends to console me. I went about 5 days without the glove, running with the right Saucony glove and one large kind of fuzzy black glove I found in my closet. One hand freezing, one hand sweating. Uncomfortable. One day I was tidying up my living room (let me just interject that I am not what one would call a "neat freak" or even an "organized person". I'm more of a "messy" or "lazy" person, if you will) and I decided to put some shoes away in my 9-cube ikea knock-off shoe cabinet/storage unit. Well low and behold my missing left glove was hiding IN one of my shoes. How it got there I don't know, but I didn't care! I literally sprang up, gasped aloud, raised my arm and clutched that glove in my outstretched hand as though I had just won The Biggest Loser (and we've come full circle). I am happy to report my Saucony gloves and I have been together again for a full week now, and still going strong.
See what I did there? You can see one "mittenized" and one in "gloveform"
Smartwool Running Socks. Black with assorted stripes. $18.
As I've discussed before, I love Smartwool socks. These were $18, $1 more than the usual $17 I'm used to because there were some complications with the purchase. Well, not really, anything beyond "the easiest possible way" is considered a "complication" to me. I went into Gazelle after they had their sock sale, and I have small feet (size 6.5), so I can only really wear the small size of these socks. They had only 2 pairs of Smartwool socks in my size left due to the sale (I could have kicked myself, a SALE and I wasn't a part of it?! And of all things, SMARTWOOL!). So I bought the 2 remaining pairs and my feet gasped in excitement (the other pair was actually the white pair you saw earlier here). I wore them for a few weeks, and in my most recent clean laundry pile, I could only find one (this overlapped my missing left glove by about 2 days, so brace yourself for the reaction). I looked everywhere for that other sock. EVERYWHERE. And of course thought "well great Erica, there goes $9—or $18 according to Dan's accounting—why don't I just throw away all my expensive running accessories because you deserve cold hands and foot blisters! Would you like that? YOU'RE WORTHLESS!!!" Fast forward to today at the gym. I was changing into my painfully cold clothes that had been sitting in my car all day (which truly is the hardest part of going to the gym. Have you ever had to put on a freezing cold sports bra? IT'S TERRIBLE) and I noticed once everything was on there was a strange lump under my t-shirt by my shoulder. I figured it was a rogue piece of clothing and just went to grab it, and *gasp* it was my other Smartwool sock (flashback to my glove discovery). I immediately looked up at myself in the mirror with this goofy 8-year old smile, eye aglow with excitement (probably at the silent "cha-ching" sound of that $9 being put back into my "things I own" bank account), and I happy gasped. The socks are once again a pair.
I realize they resemble socks a middle-aged woman would wear while hiking under Birkenstocks with eco-friendly cargo shorts, but once you wear them in the winter, you'll understand. You'll know.
And I know I keep talking about Smartwool yet never explain why they're so great. I feel I've gone on too long as it is, so that's a story for another time. What you have to look forward to: my shenanigans and mishaps during this upcoming blizzard (call me crazy, but I feel a falling story coming on).
Saucony Running Gloves. Black and BRIGHT Orange. $40.
I know, I can't look myself in the eye either. $40 for running gloves. But they turn from mitten to glove, and one has a ridiculously bright blinking light built in (for my characteristic night runs, yet I can never bring myself to use it..oh well). Much to the chagrin of my friends/co-workers (and boyfriend) I wore these as my everyday cold weather gloves for the better part of a year. That was until one went missing. Not only did I need these to shield my hands from the elements during my thrice-daily snow removal from my car (maybe 3 times a day is a bit of a stretch, BUT IT'S MICHIGAN PEOPLE!), but that one glove is $20 worth of merchandise! As my friend Dan put it "If you lose one glove of a set, is that $20 worth of merchandise? Or really more like thirty or forty? What is the value of one glove? Is it just half the value of the set? Or is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?" Yes, I was so upset I had to seek out friends to console me. I went about 5 days without the glove, running with the right Saucony glove and one large kind of fuzzy black glove I found in my closet. One hand freezing, one hand sweating. Uncomfortable. One day I was tidying up my living room (let me just interject that I am not what one would call a "neat freak" or even an "organized person". I'm more of a "messy" or "lazy" person, if you will) and I decided to put some shoes away in my 9-cube ikea knock-off shoe cabinet/storage unit. Well low and behold my missing left glove was hiding IN one of my shoes. How it got there I don't know, but I didn't care! I literally sprang up, gasped aloud, raised my arm and clutched that glove in my outstretched hand as though I had just won The Biggest Loser (and we've come full circle). I am happy to report my Saucony gloves and I have been together again for a full week now, and still going strong.
See what I did there? You can see one "mittenized" and one in "gloveform"Smartwool Running Socks. Black with assorted stripes. $18.
As I've discussed before, I love Smartwool socks. These were $18, $1 more than the usual $17 I'm used to because there were some complications with the purchase. Well, not really, anything beyond "the easiest possible way" is considered a "complication" to me. I went into Gazelle after they had their sock sale, and I have small feet (size 6.5), so I can only really wear the small size of these socks. They had only 2 pairs of Smartwool socks in my size left due to the sale (I could have kicked myself, a SALE and I wasn't a part of it?! And of all things, SMARTWOOL!). So I bought the 2 remaining pairs and my feet gasped in excitement (the other pair was actually the white pair you saw earlier here). I wore them for a few weeks, and in my most recent clean laundry pile, I could only find one (this overlapped my missing left glove by about 2 days, so brace yourself for the reaction). I looked everywhere for that other sock. EVERYWHERE. And of course thought "well great Erica, there goes $9—or $18 according to Dan's accounting—why don't I just throw away all my expensive running accessories because you deserve cold hands and foot blisters! Would you like that? YOU'RE WORTHLESS!!!" Fast forward to today at the gym. I was changing into my painfully cold clothes that had been sitting in my car all day (which truly is the hardest part of going to the gym. Have you ever had to put on a freezing cold sports bra? IT'S TERRIBLE) and I noticed once everything was on there was a strange lump under my t-shirt by my shoulder. I figured it was a rogue piece of clothing and just went to grab it, and *gasp* it was my other Smartwool sock (flashback to my glove discovery). I immediately looked up at myself in the mirror with this goofy 8-year old smile, eye aglow with excitement (probably at the silent "cha-ching" sound of that $9 being put back into my "things I own" bank account), and I happy gasped. The socks are once again a pair.
I realize they resemble socks a middle-aged woman would wear while hiking under Birkenstocks with eco-friendly cargo shorts, but once you wear them in the winter, you'll understand. You'll know.And I know I keep talking about Smartwool yet never explain why they're so great. I feel I've gone on too long as it is, so that's a story for another time. What you have to look forward to: my shenanigans and mishaps during this upcoming blizzard (call me crazy, but I feel a falling story coming on).
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