Shopping Made Easier

So this happened.

The best runs are out in nature. #runenvy

The weather has been a bit crazy. Cold and rainy when I leave the house, heat wave by the time I get home. Or vice versa. Heavy winds one day and not a breeze the next.

Since I travel so far for most of my work, I have gotten into the habit of bringing my workout clothes with me in the morning so I can change on the way home. Most of my best runs happen at a beach or park that is on my way home. Which means preparing a lot of alternatives and still getting out of the house by 6 am. Do I need long sleeves or short sleeves? Long pants or short? Sweatshirt? Plus the usual: Change of socks, bra, sneakers, and hair-ties.

So I’m on my way home and I realize that I only packed  long-sleeve shirt when I left home. It was about 50 degrees and pouring rain, so I guess it made sense at the time, but now the temperature was over 80 and I didn’t think I was going to enjoy a long run at the beach in long sleeves. And I was already too far onto the beach road to make any good shopping choices. Only discount stores and surf shops between where I was and where I planned to run. What to do? What to do?

And then it dawned on me. I could buy a shirt or tank top at a regular store. This is kind of a big deal. Normally only plus size stores carry my size. I’ve had actual meltdowns because I couldn’t find something that fit. But that isn’t where I am today. I actually can go into a regular store and find something in an XL that will fit.

Once the idea was in my head, I couldn’t wait to do it. I mean I really don’t enjoy shopping and I normally avoid it at all costs, but I couldn’t wait to walk into a store and find something that fit. And that is what I did.

There was a little-bit-of-everything store and I picked up two tank tops for $12 (regular sizes are so much cheaper than plus sizes). I also found a raincoat while I was at it. They didn’t have an XL, but I found the L zippered up. It was snug, but since the raincoat was pink, I thought I could make do.

Then I made it to the beach and did my run before the sun set. It may seem like a simple thing, but to someone like me, this is h-u-g-e!