Bag envy

Almost pulled the trigger and bought an Endurance Bag today. I waffled again. I know I’m not alone in having trouble spending money on myself, as opposed to the kids or other loved ones; it’s easier to get things that you need, like clothing that fits or shoes, but other items are harder. Isn’t it lovely-looking, though? Makes me all wistful. Right now, when I head out for running club, my van is my bag, with my dry sweatshirt and extra shoes and whatnot tossed onto the passenger seat. When I go to the gym and I need a better way to contain it all, I’m using this ultra-embarrassing purple and hot pink Sasson gym bag that I got back in the 80s – about the same time as I got a matching tiered plastic cosmetics organizer in purple, hot pink, and teal. It was rad. I managed to lose the cosmetics box in college, but the bag refuses to leave, wear out, or in any way become less than usable. I look around at other people’s “serious” bags, wincing; mine looks like I might just haul out of it a pair of striped leg warmers and a ripped-up half-shirt to dangle from one shoulder.

We went to an outlet mall yesterday, and I browsed athletic bags in several stores, trying to find something better. “Well, this one might work; I could sort of fit my wet sneakers in the zippered side if I cram…” I left empty-handed. (The boys didn’t. See above note about not being difficult to shop for them.) I’ll eventually probably get the bag I want (mmmm, Midnight Blue!), but I imagine it’s going to take some pretty heavy rationalization and probably a reward system set in place.

Only sort of related, I’ve been perplexed about my heart rates lately. When I check my Garmin after my runs, it tells me that for the first half-mile or so, my heart has been hitting some pretty significant numbers before falling back to normal ranges for the rest of the run. Yesterday, it told me that my heart was pumping a good 221 beats per minute. You’d think I’d notice something like that, right? But it’s been the pattern for all my recent runs, and I was wondering whether the issue was in an ill-fitting chest strap or in my heart itself.

Today at the gym, though, I couldn’t even get the Garmin to pick up my heart rate for long periods, and I wondered some more. Afterwards, I drove right over to the battery store. Yep, the battery was almost dead. Got a fresh new one now, and we’ll see how it behaves during tomorrow’s run. A $3 battery is much cheaper than a cardiac assessment, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed.