Running gear
I really should post more. I will attempt to make up for a silence of many weeks by posting trivia. So here goes...
I bought a hoodie today. Part of me feels that this should fill me with the urge to loiter suspiciously in the park looking disaffected and suspicious.
However, said hoodie was bought from M&S, so...
Not entirely unrelated to the above: never believe anyone who says that running is a free hobby that involves no specialist equipment. To date, I have bought: 1 pair of alarmingly-coloured running shoes that fit my rolling-in gait (£100), 1 fleece, 2 pairs of mid-calf-length leggings for running on hot days, 1 pair of jogging trousers for colder days, 1 hoodie, 2 confusing sports bras (£25 each), one pack of low-cut socks to go with the leggings (probably unnecessary, but I felt embarrassed about the happy smiley tigers on my ankles), 1 cheap top with wicking technology, just to see how it worked, 1 belt pouch to hold my phone (an excellent buy, since I use my phone to track my running, and it was very irritating in my pocket: I use this all the time for walking now, too) and one small water bottle to attach to said belt.
To be fair, the fleece has become my indispensible default extra layer to wear around the house, on walks, and pretty much everywhere, and the jogging trousers (which have an elasticated cuff around the ankle) are really useful for walking in, since they get much less muddy than my usual flappy trousers. Also, whereas I am in pain after walking just 2 or 3 miles in normal shoes, the £100 running shoes have given me absolutely no pain at all while running almost twice as far, so were a Good Buy. But, still, that must surely come to over £250 by now. And I've only been doing this for less than 4 months, and haven't yet run for further than 5 miles...
EDIT: I've just discovered that my hoodie has little slits in the cuffs which allow them to become sort-of fingerless mittens! :-D Granted, I had some fingerless gloves back in the 80s, when they were In, and found them a particularly rubbish item of clothing. However, that was mostly because the knitting splayed out at end of each truncated finger, which meant that I had to go around with my fingers ever so* slightly spread, as if half-heartedly casting a tiny cantrip. However, it turns out that semi-partial-half-hearted suggestions of a fingerless glove, masquerading as a normal cuff, are really kind of awesome. At least they are when you've drunk a couple of pints of cider. :-D
* Whenever I say that, I remember my Mum saying that a neighbour of hers in Edinburgh in the early 70s once said, dismissively, of somebody else that she was "the sort of person who says 'ever so.'" I have never worked out what sort of a person this is, but ever so often, when I notice myself saying it, I wonder who is nearby, judging me.
I bought a hoodie today. Part of me feels that this should fill me with the urge to loiter suspiciously in the park looking disaffected and suspicious.
However, said hoodie was bought from M&S, so...
Not entirely unrelated to the above: never believe anyone who says that running is a free hobby that involves no specialist equipment. To date, I have bought: 1 pair of alarmingly-coloured running shoes that fit my rolling-in gait (£100), 1 fleece, 2 pairs of mid-calf-length leggings for running on hot days, 1 pair of jogging trousers for colder days, 1 hoodie, 2 confusing sports bras (£25 each), one pack of low-cut socks to go with the leggings (probably unnecessary, but I felt embarrassed about the happy smiley tigers on my ankles), 1 cheap top with wicking technology, just to see how it worked, 1 belt pouch to hold my phone (an excellent buy, since I use my phone to track my running, and it was very irritating in my pocket: I use this all the time for walking now, too) and one small water bottle to attach to said belt.
To be fair, the fleece has become my indispensible default extra layer to wear around the house, on walks, and pretty much everywhere, and the jogging trousers (which have an elasticated cuff around the ankle) are really useful for walking in, since they get much less muddy than my usual flappy trousers. Also, whereas I am in pain after walking just 2 or 3 miles in normal shoes, the £100 running shoes have given me absolutely no pain at all while running almost twice as far, so were a Good Buy. But, still, that must surely come to over £250 by now. And I've only been doing this for less than 4 months, and haven't yet run for further than 5 miles...
EDIT: I've just discovered that my hoodie has little slits in the cuffs which allow them to become sort-of fingerless mittens! :-D Granted, I had some fingerless gloves back in the 80s, when they were In, and found them a particularly rubbish item of clothing. However, that was mostly because the knitting splayed out at end of each truncated finger, which meant that I had to go around with my fingers ever so* slightly spread, as if half-heartedly casting a tiny cantrip. However, it turns out that semi-partial-half-hearted suggestions of a fingerless glove, masquerading as a normal cuff, are really kind of awesome. At least they are when you've drunk a couple of pints of cider. :-D
* Whenever I say that, I remember my Mum saying that a neighbour of hers in Edinburgh in the early 70s once said, dismissively, of somebody else that she was "the sort of person who says 'ever so.'" I have never worked out what sort of a person this is, but ever so often, when I notice myself saying it, I wonder who is nearby, judging me.