things

Summer's gearing up here, and my mood is better this week.  My mind's still busy trying to figure out how I can create some big changes in the way I think and act, but there's no way I could write about that coherently.  I can however write about all the STUFF I've purchased over the last several months trying to jumpstart my motivation:

Awww, my first heart rate monitor.  What can I say, I'm not an early adopter of technology.  I found one for $40 at Costco and grabbed it in a brief moment of decisiveness.  It's very basic and all I need right now.  I have no idea what I'm doing as far as heart rate training, so I'm just monitoring for now while I read up on all the heart rate info I've previously skimmed over.

 

Shoe #1, Saucony Kinvara.  Don't remember if I noted this one when I bought it a few months back, but I LOVED this shoe's road feel and lightness.  It's the first shoe in a long time I considered buying again after I wore it out, but the toe box is just not wide enough for my squashed forefoot and even with my small-ish size, the durability was quite disappointing. 

Shoe #2, Brooks Launch.  I've wanted this shoe for quite some time, and... well maybe I'm spoiled by the Kinvara, but Brooks has not yet won me over.  So paddy, so stiff, so suffocatingly hot, so not as wide in the forefoot as people claim.  I suppose it's official that I'm a minimalist shoe convert if this nearly-flat shoe feels like overkill.  I'm regretting this purchase, but I'll ride it out.



  

What, those aren't your major food groups?  Well, it's official: I'm not a vegetarian anymore.  I haven't completely come to terms with subsidizing the mistreatment of animals, and I don't necessarily feel like that would be an "achievement" I aspire to reach.  I'm trying to find the right point at which I treat my own personal health as the utmost priority, while still weighing the impact of my choices in a respectful – but not alarmist – way. 

Everything else about eating meat has been really... well... nice.  Eating healthily is easier.  While I would never claim that being a healthy vegetarian or vegan is impossible, there is no denying that it is more complicated (if done right), and I'm tired of fretting about supplementing with B vitamins, iron, and omega-3s.  Not having to shop/cook for such varied diets has simplified and unified our family meals in a way that I don't quite know how to explain.

Oh, and how did I forget how freaking delicious Starbursts are?  I ate two packs in an an hour.  I've sufficiently indulged in all the gelatin-laced sweets that I've said no to for a long time, but now I'm over that frenzy and ready to really work out my new food habits.

In other purchase news, my winter Y pass has run out, but the outdoor community pool is officially open, our passes have been found, and I spent a small fortune on sunscreen yesterday.

We're also still working away on our little camper renovation, and I suddenly have grand aspirations of using it as lodging for a certain 70.3 event a year away, and then finally aiming for a full Iron-distance after that.  (What!?  Goals!?  What?!)

As for that purdy bike I bought, it deserves a post of its own.  And since my computer is apparently unwilling to upload a photo (or remove the ugly borders from those above), I'll have to keep that post in my pocket for awhile longer.