Can't I Just Buy New Clothes?

I'm scarcely into my Dopey training and it's already come to this. I've had to buy an additional laundry hamper.

Most people need to do laundry when they run out of clothes. I usually just buy more clothes. But at some point, this is no longer a practical option. I mean, my house isn't all that big. But the main problem I've been having lately with all these wardrobe changes necessitated by multiple workouts is that my hamper simply cannot hold enough clothing . So I either had to buy a 2nd hamper or do laundry more often. I think the answer was clear so off to Bed, Bath and Beyond I went.

But it's not just the overflowing laundry pile that precipitated this purchase. There was also the issue of my "liquid awesome" getting all over everything. You know that saying that women don't sweat, they sparkle? Well, I sparkle a whole hell of a lot. I usually have to peel my running clothes off of me. Nice visual, huh? I know it sounds ridiculous, because all the clothes in the hamper are dirty, but I don't like my workout clothes to mingle with my regular clothes. In my mind there are multiple levels of clothes dirtiness: "regular day dirty", "hot day dirty", "workout dirty", "hot day workout dirty" and "what died in there?". I feel like I've had many an outfit fall in the latter end of that spectrum lately.

One of the ways I accommodate the "hot day workout dirty" and "what died in there?" categories is to air out my clothes before I put them in the hamper. On any particular day, you'd find clothes hanging off doorknobs, shower curtain rods, hooks, the sides of the hamper, and the edge of a bed. The only reason nothing is hanging off my ceiling fan is that I'm too tired to climb up my stepladder after a run.

So I had the brilliant idea to segregate my clothing. By putting workout clothes - and only workout clothes - in one hamper and the rest of my clothes in the other, I know which load to use my super-duty, you-stink-more-than-average, workout clothing detergent on. I can also just drag the hamper straight down the washing machine and dump without touching the clothes with my hands.  And I can probably put off doing laundry by at least 5 days.

I'm sure my stench hamper won't be the last purchase I need to make for Dopey Training, but it might just be the laziest. And I'm ok with that.

Things I Think About When I'm Running

This Dopey Challenge training stuff has caused me to spend a lot of quality time with myself. Often in the oh-hell-no-o'clock hours while normal people are still sleeping. This has already had a couple of effects: 1) the time of day I most look forward to is bedtime. When I wake up, often my first thought is of when I can sleep again, and 2) I have a lot of time to think. I'd like to say I use this time to ponder the great questions of the universe but let's not forget it's really early and I'm not a morning person. Below are some of the thoughts I've had during runs this week.

Thoughts about what I'm using to fuel myself. "Powerade does indeed go bad. I'm not sure what the timeline is for that to happen but personal experience tells me it's somewhere south of 7 years."

Thoughts about what normal productive people do. "Geez - look at these people in their cars. They are already showered and dressed and on their way places to do things. That one even managed to get a kid dressed too. It's only 6:43 a.m. Who are these people? "

Thoughts about the one shoe I found abandoned by the water fountain in the park. "Hmmm....one shoe. How does someone lose one shoe? I mean, it's clearly a kid's shoe, but wouldn't they notice that they were walking a little crooked on the way home? At the very least, wouldn't the adult that took them home from said park notice the child in their care was semi-shoeless? Also - what will they do with the other shoe?"

Thoughts about how I need to add some variety to my playlist. "Man I need to add some more music to my running playlist. Ugh...I don't want to have to use iTunes on my computer. I bet celebrities don't have to update their own playlists. They probably have someone to do that kind of thing for them. I need someone to do that for me. There should be a service where people do that for you! I would pay for that. This is brilliant. This is my million dollar idea."

My runs are still fairly short so my thinking time is still limited. I'm sure I'll manage to solve the world's problems once my run milage hit the double digits.