Going Bare

I love being barefoot. Maybe it's one of those things about growing up in Florida where cold weather was not an issue but, for me, the first indication that I am relaxed, whether at a friend's home or after coming home from a long day of work, is that the shoes are off. Barefoot is always my preferred state.   If I'm driving somewhere, I typically don't even put on shoes until I've arrived at my destination. (This had led to a time or two when I forgot to bring shoes along and I now carry an "emergency" pair in my car.) To me it feels safer, more controlled when I am barefoot (and yes, it is legal to drive barefoot, at least in most states.)

So I was intrigued to come across this article in the New York Times which started me researching the "new" trend for running barefoot. Christopher McDougall published a book called Born to Run a few years ago about a tribe in Mexico who run huge distances wearing basically nothing but a thin strip of rubber on their feet...and suffer few to no injuries in the process.  Unlike the case with western runners, where the incidence of injuries actually correlates to the price of the running shoe. (No joke! This article goes into it in more detail.) Yet another thing where we've bought into the idea that more expensive = better.

It is, in a way, a relief. I've started into running on a very small scale but had been intimidated by runners in the office who talked about the need to go to a specialized running store and having your feet tested and measured for shoes ($200+) before you "get serious" about running.  And, of course, even once you find those perfect shoes, then you have to replace them every 3 months or so! (Well, every 300-500 miles - ha! I don't think that was such a danger for me.) But that whole industry didn't even start until the 1970s! How did people ever run before then?

Barefoot running makes sense when you think about it. By creating all that support for our feet with the fancy running shoes, we actually do our feet a disservice. Having to negotiate terrain, adjust for impact, and all the things our feet do when barefoot makes them stronger and better able to do all those things. And stronger means less likely to suffer injury. (I should note that everything I read suggests that you go very slowly when adjusting to running barefoot, starting off with walking and gradually moving to short runs to let your body adapt.)

I just can't believe I missed all this before, particularly with all the research I've done the past few years with raw foods & back-to-nature projects! So now I am dying to try out these funny shoes which are supposed to pretty much let you run barefoot while protecting your soles from glass and the like:

(Mom, do you remember the socks with toes I had when I was a kid? Reminds me of those.)

I'll keep you posted but in the meantime, I am excited over the newfound license to go barefoot!


Other articles on the subject:

• You Walk Wrong
  
• Is Running Barefoot the Answer to Runners’ Foot, Ankle and Knee Problems?
• The Barefoot Movement
• NY Times: Wriggling Their Toes at the Shoe Giants
• Cure all Running Injuries (and Pain) with One Simple Fix….Barefoot Running

the golden mean - TMMO check-in

Well, aside from the major expenses associated with buying a new laptop, I actually spent very little money this month. I spent the majority of my "fun money" the first weekend and decided that I was still going to stick to the budget and cut out any extra expenses the rest of the month to make up for it. As a result, I did pretty much NOTHING social the rest of this month (Admittedly, it wasn't all drudgery since I did enjoy playing with my new toy.) and the lack has been very hard for me!

I don't know how these diehards on the TMMO do it. I've seen very little of Jenn because our primary means of communication was lunch once or twice a week. At first she kept offering to pay which made me feel even worse so I started making up excuses as to why I couldn't go (meetings, etc). Nice, huh? Lying to my friends! Plus eating at my desk every day, while doing wonders for my job performance this month, has been depressing. If only I were a true introvert, maybe I wouldn't even notice these things. Of course, if I were a true introvert, I probably wouldn't have gotten into this mess to begin with!

Even once I hit paycheck #2 for the month, I still stuck with it because once I'm committed to a venture, I can't seem to rein in my spending to less than $40 a pop. I guess it's a pride thing but once I'm there, I feel like a killjoy if I say I can't do something or insist on separate checks. But all this obsessing about money has not been good for the relationships I have;  I feel like my soul is becoming small and stingy

Maybe that's the way to become a millionaire but if that is the cost, I don't think I want it.

Don't get me wrong; I really, really want to get rid of this huge debt hanging over me. I hate it and the sooner it is out of my life, the happier I will be. But in the meantime, I don't think it's a good idea to cut myself off from life to this extent just to get out of debt a month or two faster.

So my new goal is to strike a happy medium between this self-imposed asceticism and the free-fall spending of my past.  A big part of that for me is to cut it into a more sizeable chunk. When I think about the total amount, it's just so overwhelming - it feels as though I'll be condemned to drudgery for years.

So instead I'm just going to focus on paying off the "little stuff" (car, etc) and excluding the student loan, at least for the moment.  The student loan and the house are important but they will get paid off eventually and maybe once I get past the rest, they won't seem so overwhelming. The important thing is to stick to the biggest principle I've learned this last year: spending less than I make each month (still no credit cards!) and to just keep at it. In the meantime, a little more "mad money" and giving myself permission to spend for the right things - like time with friends - is in order,.

So here's the check-in for this month. Despite the lack of social interaction, lunches, etc the total paid off, minus interest payments, etc,  is a paltry $238.54 for a grand total of  $11,089.10 to date.  Which doesn't even budge my percentage on the tracker I'd been using! So just to make me feel better, here it is, new & improved, without the student loan.  There now, that looks much more do-able. :)

For all you northerners living in Florida....

From xkcd.com

New Laptop!

I'm not sure whether to report this as bad news or good. It is exciting since it's been 6+ years since I've had a new computer (and I am not someone who is usually satisfied with older technology). But on the other hand, it is another serious set back to the old debt payoff. :|

However, it's done now so I am enjoying it. I got an HP Pavilion DV7 which I had actually researched a while ago when I was first thinking about getting a multimedia laptop. That aspect of it is very nice because watching things from online on my tv is as easy as plugging in the HDMI cable. It does all the rest automatically (which is pretty cool).  So now I am really not missing having cable at all.

But the biggest thing I love about the laptop is NO MORE WIRES! Here's a picture of my new & improved "desk":

 

I moved the wireless router & cable modem over to the bookshelf and was able to get rid of SO MUCH STUFF that was taking up space. I thought about keeping the monitor to plug into when I'm in the office but the one on the laptop is actually bigger (and nicer).

(P.S. - Extra points if you can name the dog shown in this picture.)