I swam... and it wasn’t scary

I had a great, productive, fun weekend. The nice weather didn’t hurt either.

Friday night, I saw this guy riding the subway.

As my dad pointed out, no one could be bothered that a guy
with a panda head was riding the NYC subway. 

I got dinner and beers with Keith and the gang, but headed home early to chug water in preparation for an early Saturday morning. I went to the gym early Friday morning, so once 10:30PM rolled around, I was ready to drift off to sleep. I love how training excuses my toddler-like sleep habits.

At 7AM my alarm went off, and I got ready to go to the gym. There was a TNT running session in Central Park, followed by an event called “Connection 2 the Cause” on the Upper West Side. Since I haven’t been cleared by my PT to run just yet, I did the gazelle-like elliptical and the stairmaster at the gym instead.

On that note, I really like my new PT. Dr. Levine, who has a lot of patients who are marathoners and triathletes, came highly recommended on my insurance website. Beyond that, I found out that he has an office literally across the street from my office. I wanted to get a second opinion on my IT band, and he says that about 80% of his athlete-patients have the same injury. I am not alone in my frustration.

Please get rid of the knots in my leg.

I left the gym (where scary-skinny older women intimidated me with their six-pack abs), and was excited for the C2C event. The goal of the event is to inspire and remember the reason why we are training with TNT. A few people talked about their experience with LLS, and then they opened the floor up for anyone who wanted to share their story about why they’re training. I was blown away not only by everyone’s bravery to stand in front of a group of 200 strangers and speak, but by all of the experiences that my fellow teammates have been through. We cheered on the participants who are now cancer-free, and applauded those who are participating in a friend’s memory. I left with a lump in my throat, and feeling even more excited about training for the triathlon.

After a morning of TNT, I went home to tackle my closet. My shelves and bureau have been a hot mess the last few weeks.

I have a lot of socks.

I sorted through all my clothes, and anything I haven't worn in the last six months went in a donation pile. I ended up getting rid of two big bags of clothes (including mostly Forever 21 clothes I bought in college. Their clothes look so much better at time of purchase). I refolded everything into neat little piles back in my closet, that will likely stay that way for less than a week. 

After all my clothes sorting, I was inspired by my friend Meggie’s recent success at a thrift shop called Beacon’s Closet in Brooklyn. She said that they bought $320 worth of her clothes. While Meggie’s clothes have a lot more whimsy and artsy-ness to them, I figured I could bring the highlights of my garbage bags and give it a go (I took the DVF pants, but left the Hanes t-shirts at home).

While I waited for "buyers" to get to my bag o’ fun, I shopped around a bit. I looked around for some funky stuff that I might be able to wear to work… but I found absolutely nothing. It was a little disappointing, and I think I gave myself a headache from searching through all the racks of clothes. My shopping stamina just isn’t what it used to be.

As much as I would like to, I can't wear these to work.

I checked back at the sell station, and they went through my clothes in front of me. It was humbling to watch someone judge my clothes. While they passed on most of my items, they did buy two pieces from me; a green dress with pink buttons from Urban Outfitters, and a pair of DVF pants I got at a sample sale.

I wore the green dress to a sorority formal with Keith.
Goodbye dress. Go make new memories with hipsters.

I tried to tell myself that the reason Beacon's Closet only took two items was because they were really looking for spring items, and most of my clothes were wintry. But I guess I’m also okay with the fact my clothes aren’t thrift shop-worthy. I’ll leave that up to Macklemore.

Last night, we had our second TNT swim practice. I was really, really anxious before getting in the water. Last Monday’s practice went well, but I felt really tired afterwards and swallowed about a half gallon of water. Mostly I was nervous I would feel completely uncoordinated like I did last week.

But as soon as I jumped in the water and started swimming, I felt GREAT. I was shocked at how much easier it felt to swim compared to last week. 

We did a lot of the same drills we did last week, and I took my time with each to practice form as best I could. I felt really good about it, and while I still swallowed copious amounts of water, I can already feel myself improving.

You're up! What are your thoughts on thrift shopping? Was selling two items worth the $12.22 I got back?