Thrift Store Visit
I woke up early to go to the Salvation Army thrift store back to school sale. I had gone to one of the stores yesterday to see if there was anything worth my getting up early to be one of the first at the store opening. I saw two suits that I liked. Suits were only $2 in today’s sale. I also saw some things for my retail blog as well.
There weren’t many people at the store when we got there. The last time they had this $2 sale, there were a lot more people. I guess it’s less busy because of the summer holidays. In any case, that was good for me because the suits I had chosen yesterday were still there.
Part of me wonders why I am still even bothering to build up my work wardrobe since I’m not working. I have a closet full of work clothes and the only time I wear them is if I ‘play’ a business person in a TV show or movie. That makes me sad. I wonder if I should stop even bothering to look for work clothes, until I’ve actually found a full-time job?
Short Run
I decided to go for a short five-mile run. The weather was good for it, not too hot and not too sunny. I had hoped to do a fast run but I was feeling unusually lethargic and heavy. I couldn’t understand why I was feeling like that. I had eaten only soup and salad for lunch and yet I felt like I had eaten a banquet of greasy, heavy food.
Every time I took a step, I felt like I was wearing heavy clodhopper shoes. It was so odd. I have no idea why I was running so slowly today. Even when I was on a slight downhill stretch, when I usually feel quite fast and gazelle-like, I felt slow.
I still had some slight Achilles tendon pain when I ran today and I wondered if I was exacerbating my condition if I continued to run? I did some stretches but I’m not sure if it’s strengthening my calves enough to make a difference. I’m just hoping that I can hold off on any serious Achilles injuries until after the marathon next month.
This reminded me of my UBC volunteer coordinator’s dilemma when she was training for the Paris marathon in April. She had some pretty serious injuries going on but she and her husband had already paid for their non-refundable plane tickets! She still managed to do all of the appropriate training for injured runners, like pool running and physio therapy and somehow managed to run and complete the marathon!
Okay, my marathon is only an hour drive away and I didn’t actually pay for the entry fee, but I still feel just as obligated to finish since I don’t want to waste my friend’s entry. Sometimes when I’m running well, I entertain thoughts of finishing fast enough to qualify for the Boston marathon! But when I run like today, I fear that I will be humiliated and the last runner, with the course marshals waiting for me to finish so they can close the course. I’m sure I’ll be some where in between those two extremes.
Blood Pressure Reading
I went for a blood pressure reading later in the afternoon. I was happy to see that it was low. It’s been a several weeks now since I visited my doctor and decided to go off the high blood pressure medication she had prescribed. I’ve been monitoring my blood pressure regularly since and I have been able to maintain low readings ever since. If I ever did get high readings, I would go back on the water pills right away.
I have another appointment to follow-up in a month. At this point, it does look like I’ll have the same readings and hopefully will be able to support my argument as to why I decided to go off of the medication. This is probably the first time I deliberately did not heed my doctor’s advice and this time I don’t think I was wrong to do so.
Craigslist Ad for Friend’s Garage Sale
My friend had posted a listing for her garage sale but because there are so many listings, it got totally lost. She asked me to post one for her. This is one of the last summer weekends. That means a lot of people are getting desperate to do their final push to get rid of things before school starts.
I decided to get some things together so that I could see if I could sell some things at her sale, too. I concentrated on getting rid of bigger things. Even though I’ve known this garage sale has been coming up, I haven’t put things aside until this week. Because I live in a condo, I can’t really sell things in a garage sale or yard sale. This will be my best chance to get rid of some things.
fiftyandunemployed 