Running as My Commute

Meant to blog last night, but I still haven't bitten the bullet and bought a new computer charger so have only been able to get my battery fix every once in a while when my roommate isn't using hers. I realized I have a serious money spending problem so have tried to rein in the spending, but unfortunately I've only been successful at not buying important things (battery charger, food, a mattress, to name a few...). Anyway, my computer had something like a 6% charge last night and I was rocking a bit of a buzz so blogging didn't happen. Something insane and monumental that did happen? The express train moved faster than the local. This is serious news, folks. A cold day in Hell, if you will. I also pulled the as-hole move of shoving half my body between the closing doors, thereby preventing them from shutting. What can I say? Blame the buzz. I have to admit it gave me kind of a rush (my life is so interesting). And big black marks on my shirt.

Speaking of my shirt, it's new (spending problem). Those cheap discount websites are like crack. I never used to buy clothes, but ever since I discovered them I've been on an endless spending spree. It's embarrassing actually, since my roommates are always the people to receive the packages so know how much sh-t I'm buying. I feel like a spoiled brat. But no worries, I don't really have enough money to buy these things. This is the semi-ridiculous trippy shirt I bought a while ago and forgot about until I found the package sitting outside my room:


I actually really like it, except the fact that it's so long (why does everyone do that?! I'm mostly looking at you, Lululemon. Not everyone has 40-foot-long torsos). The gnome-tree tumor thing was designed back in the sixties (duh). There were a couple of other shirts with different designs that I really wanted, but times are tough and sometimes you just can't afford another $10 shirt. Also, this shirt claims to be 85% polyester and 15% something else with a techie name. I call bullsh-t. It feels suspiciously like cotton, although I have to admit that the sweat dried pretty quickly.

Anyway, my commute home was ridiculous. I was wearing the clothes I ran in that morning


plus a black skirt. There was a time when I cared about looking New York-y, but that time is long gone. Now I'm full-on weirdo all the time. It draws some looks, but at least I'm not in the Vibrams anymore! Those really set people off. Even my friends. Especially my friends.

I did my 30-minute tempo run yesterday morning along the usual route (up 1st Ave, basically), and it went well. It's pretty nice when two-thirds of your run consists of a warm-up/cool-down. It felt good to push it, but only for a mile or so because let's face it, I don't like pain. It didn't feel good to have no idea how far I went and what speed I was doing it at. My phone better get its act together for tomorrow's 8-miler, although I can already say it won't. Damn you, logic!

I'm over the moon (is that the right expression? I suck at idioms) about the decreasing temperature. Finally, after probably 6 months of frying in hellish Hell-weather from Hell, I feel comfortable being outside. No joke. Heat and humidity rank right up there with, well, dying, as things I hate the most. Give me a choice between 30 below and 80 and I'll choose the former every time. You think I'm kidding, but I don't kid about things this serious.

As it gets colder, however, I'm encountering kind of a unique problem, mainly my commute home. I love the cold, don't get me wrong, but I'm not superwoman (although maybe someday I'll change things up and try to rock this look). I won't always be able to walk to the subway in a tank top. At some point, I will feel cold. Very cold. But since I use my morning commute to do my run, I can only carry whatever fits in my tiny backpack,

I thought that arrow would be more obvious.

which tends to be my work clothes and not a warm and sensible jacket. I could bring a stash of jackets to work on Monday, a rest day, but I only own two jackets, one of which I have to wear home Monday. So I guess that leaves me with nothing. I'm so glad I could talk through this with myself. All you Russians from domar.ru, any suggestions? Any future readers? Does anyone else deal with this? There is about a .00001% chance of me doing my morning run and then commuting, so I need to find a way to make this work.

The super secret awesome Mike Birbiglia/Ira Glass movie I watched Wednesday night made it into Sundance! Congratulations to them!

Apparently one of my roommates has a mega-Christmas day planned tomorrow, so I need to start drumming up some festiveness. I'm wearing a green sweater today, so I guess that works.

-Jeano