Saving on: Eating Out

When I first started this blog, I had a goal of eating at a very low cost.  I learned a lot through that extreme measure and challenged myself to do somethings I wouldn't otherwise done.  For instance, I made homemade bread and tortillas.  I realized at the time that cooking from scratch often yielded significant savings.  I also really liked the purity of the idea and wanted to eat as scratch-made as often as possible.  I wanted to save every penny, not just because I'm sort of a miser, but because I enjoyed the game of it.

Enter: Reality

The reality is I'm not a housewife, and I'm not on a that restrictive of a budget.  I need to be modest, but I can afford basic necessities such as food.

Also, if you consider your time as valuable in monetary terms, some scratch made items are not worth the time put it.

One of the down sides to my "commitment" to scratch-made food is that I very rarely had items in the house that were readily cook-able, and it turns out that not every day do I want to spend an hour plus in the kitchen cooking.  Sure, I like cooking and all, but it's not all that I'm responsible for either, and as I mentioned earlier: I'm not a housewife (or a house-girlfriend, or a house anything for that matter).  Anyway, so if I want to eat (which is everyday), but I don't want to put much effort into cooking... Solution: go out to eat! ...err... except for that's basically the most expensive, unhealthy way to eat possible (with a high range of variance).

Basically, despite good intentions, I'm not able to maintain a 'very' cheap food system for very long, so I find myself resorting to 'going out' foods more often than I really need to.  So, I found two things that really help with that.  They aren't novel ideas really, but they work none the less.  

1. Buying 'expensive' food
For example, I decided it was okay to buy already made hummus, and grape tomatoes.  I know these foods don't sound crazy indulgent, but before I thought I 'had to' make hummus from scratch, and only buy grape tomatoes when there was wildly good deal.  I don't though, and having foods I love around has made me more excited to pack lunches.  These foods are actually healthy too and require 'zero' preparation. 

Sunday morning we made breakfast burritos at home, we used good ingredients, like bacon and fresh veggies which are things that I think of as being expensive.  A very rough calculation on ingredient cost suggested it cost about $8.00 for the batch, and safe estimates say we will get at least 4 meals out of this (probably more) for $2.00/person.  When we go out to our favorite breakfast cafe, even with a groupon, it ends up being about $9.50/person.

2. Accepting some processed foods
We've also purchased frozen pizzas.  They are virtually deplorable health wise, but it's well 'easy', and though it's not all that cheap, we've often ordered pizza out when there's "nothing to eat" around here, so the frozen pizza is a lower loss option.  Frozen pizza can easily be purchased for $5.00 or $2.50 per person, and take-out pizza is usually at least $15.00 which is $7.50/person.  Also, as I understand it there are some more favorable health-wise options as well.

Last, we bought a box of breakfast sandwiches  like these ones:

 It was $13.50 for the box of 12, making it one of the most expensive items in my cart and I didn't even have a coupon.   There were cheaper ones at the store, but these seemed slightly healthier (and more edible).  The sandwiches round to $1.13 each, which makes them over a dollar less then their counter part at McDonald's and after a taste test, I can say they were comparable. In this case Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwich is a little more healthy than the McD version and has fewer calories as well.

Conclusion
In the first examples, I just need to get over my neurosis of buying mildly expensive food.  For instance... yes I can make decent garlic bread from scratch, but the awesome tasting loaf from target which is $2.00, is hardly a waste of money.  In the last examples, it's a case of the perfect being the enemy of the good.  Also, if I had to locate where food costs add up the most for us - it's very obviously going out to eat.  No question.  So options like frozen pizza and microwave meals make sense (in moderation).  These changes do save me money, but they also add balance.   

At the end of the day - the ideal would be perfectly prepared meals from all-natural, scratch made ingredients all the time.  I can't say I wouldn't want this, but the reality is it takes time.  Time away from other goals and priorities (such as getting another degree, and having a successful career, which are no less important and in some ways more urgent at this juncture in my life).  So I share this because, I imagine I'm not the only one who has to balance a variety of goals in their life, and hope it gives you some food for thought (har har) about where you can make changes to increase balance as well as save money.

10 great things about TC marathon 2012 (10 days later)

10.  I beat my last year's marathon by 41 minutes!  (never to be done again)  I came in a 5:01:21.  Here's the stats:

9.  I'm still among the thankful that there are port-a-potties along the course.

8.  I got one good photo from this event

7.  There was music blasting and crowds cheering the whole way through, including these awesome dancing robots

6.  Long distance fans, who cheered virtually from 900 miles away (Thanks @HealthyAlyse).

5.  I obsessed about this marathon... I won't admit how many times I might of calculated my possible finish time.  I also had all my long runs scheduled on my Google calendar since march (when I signed up).   I think it paid off.  

4.  I haven't ran once since the race (my knee has some soreness, but I will probably be back on my feet soon)

3.  This marathon made me realize I "like" marathoning.  I sort of did already, but now I officially have several marathons on my bucket list.    

2.  I've had this conversation more than once.
          Me: I ran a marathon last weekend
          Other Person:  Oh really, did you place?
          Me:  Ummmm.... no.
          Other Person:  Oh, sorry to hear that.
           *too funny*

1.  Friends

Basking in Blurry Marathon Bliss

I'm not even really sure what to say about this marathon...so settle in for a long post.

I was pretty nervous the day before, my expectations were high and in place, but reality was my shin felt imperfect, my training had slacked in the last weeks and I didn't really know what I was leaving to chance.  Note: when you run the marathon, there is always something left to chance.

I set the alarm for 5:30 am and began the morning ritual.  Bagel and Coffee, adorn race outfit, pin on number, check and double check that I have everything.  Make several trips to the bathroom.  

Tony asked me, "Do you feel better than you did last year?" I said, "I have the same nerves, even though I know my training was better."  On the way to the HH Metrodome, Tony made me laugh so much.  I was babbling on about the corrals and he made a joke about cattle... you had to be there.. but the guy is hysterical sometimes.  Like last year it was so busy that he dropped me off about a block from the location and as I was strolling in - I tripped and fell on the pavement.  Not the best way to start the day, but I was fine and several nice runner people asked if I was fine too.  Once I got inside the Metrodome, I made yet another trip to the bathroom.  (Never can be too sure). Then it was about time to head out to the corrals.

As I was waiting in the corrals, I saw my friend Anne from high-school. We recently reconnected while we were both running  in the Women's Rock Half-Marathon.  Crazy times!  We discussed typical runner things, and I said I would be so happy with 4:59:59... (even though my official goal was 5:12:22).

When we crossed the start line and began to run, I felt like all my nerves went away.  My shin pain was mild to non-existent and I just embraced the race.  The crowd was amazing and I tried to focus on taking it easy for those first few miles, even though I was still going pretty quick for me.  Unsurprisingly, I spent a great deal of the time thinking about running and marathons.  I observed many people wearing shirts that supported some sort of cause.  Running for world vision, Running for education, Running for people in Africa  running for voting no, running for voting yes.  I wondered what I was running for.... myself?  Seems slightly selfish when couched against all these causes, but perhaps a little more pure.  Maybe.  I guess I really don't need a "big" reason, I think I run because I can.  I'm really thankful for that... I've become more aware lately what a gift that is.

I saw several friends along the way.  Thanks to all of you for being there.  Many from the blogging community, but also others.  I believe I will miss some here, but Kelly at 7, Tony at 11, Jen, Meredith and Kris at 14, Ann and Jay at 16, Heidi at 20ish?, Carrie at 22, Annie at 24, and Juila, Jay, and Ann at the Finish (and Tony too!)  Also, Steph was at the finish too, and she saw me, but I didn't see her.

I spent the entire race in some sort of blissful running blur.  I was really taken in with the run; I trusted my training and just kept moving.   Honestly, a few of my beloved spectators really had to scream to get my attention.  In one hysterical moment, I waved back, but didn't figure out who I was waving too until a few yards down... I shouted back "Hey Meredith!".  Also, I saw Ann and Jay with their awesome robot costumes... but because I was expecting to see them at mile 17 (they were at 16), I didn't fully realize it was them until later.

There were tough moments of course, miles 22 to 25 were the hardest, and I did walk some.  It was very good to see Annie at mile 24!

Running really takes you in if you let it.... There are some great days of running and some bad ones.  This was a great one.   I trained, the weather was perfect... the social element was the cherry on top.  I've talked on here about how I usually run without a soundtrack (ie no music) and that's not to sound elitist... but I don't miss it; I love that brain time.  I started the day with a few layers, a fleece, a long sleeve, and some mittens, but left all of that out on the course.  In a way that's how running is... it's best when you leave a some of what you were carrying behind.

I'll do a more "numeric" oriented post in a bit, but I will leave you with this.  Finish time: 5:01:21  Not quite 4:59:59, but hey, I'm happy.

5 days to go

Here's what's racing through my mind (pun intended):

- I recently ran a spontaneous 5k called The Big Gay RACE - total blast of a time.  You can read Liz's recap here. 

-Weather predictions for 8/7 (marathon day) are cold and cloudy.  mmm hmm.  That's what we runners like.  

-Don't have any idea what I'm going to wear.  I've had a habit of dressing 'too warm for running' in cold weather... so I am trying to avoid that but still prevent hypothermia while waiting in the corrals.  I also want to look cute. Nothing wrong with that.  If some knows a master plan here - I'd love to hear it.    

-Missed my morning run today, and I'm debating as to whether or not I'll actually make it up this afternoon.  Between my monthly visit from Aunt Flo and some "very minor" shin pain I'm not going to worry about it too much.  I've had a solid season and I don't think I can get derailed that easily at this point in the game.   

- I'm excited to join up with some other awesome blogger runners - Julia, Kat and Falon are going to be out on the course too.  

-You can stalk me here.  Look up Er!n M@nthey - hopefully you can translate to normal the non-google-able version of my name.  You must sign up by 7pm 8/6.  I believe there will be a live map day of on the TCM events site... but I'm clueless as too how that will actually work.

UPDATE: Jen will also be among us this Sunday.  Go her!  

Running the Numbers

My marathon training is coming to a close, so I thought I would run some numbers.  This is a bit of nerded out run post, so I guess you can't say you weren't warned.

For whatever reason this year's training plan ended up including a lot of 12 mile runs.  My runs were usually 12.4 miles because of the routes available around my house.  I think that last run should of been 12.4 too (as it was the same path), but my garmin was a little wonky (ie I don't run through building despite the garmin reporting differently).  I'm sure there is some clever way to shave off that additional 0.4, but it doesn't seem like that would do much for me, so why bother.  I decided to include last years time too... just to show off the stark comparison.      

Date	Distance	Time	Pace
Aug 24th 2011	12.45 mi	2:39:32	12:48
Jul 7th 2012	12.40 mi	2:23:45	11:36
Aug 25th 2012	12.41 mi	2:24:40	11:39
Sep 9th 2012	12.42 mi	2:23:55	11:35
Sep 23rd 2012	12.32 mi	2:22:33	11:34

Other than an improvement from last year, I've been pretty consistent during these runs.   Holding withing a few seconds of 11:35, it's not a bad pace and quick enough to meet my overall goal of 5:12:22 (11:55 pace) for the full marathon. 

However, I've also participated in two half-marathons this year, where I ran a little faster.  Even though I'm a back of the back runner... I think the race mentality really gets to me!

Date	Race	Time	Pace
April 28th 2012	Get in Gear	2:28:32	11:19
Sep 1st 2012	Women's Rock	2:21:22	10:48

So I found this jazzed out race time predictor (http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/calculator)... 'scuse my nerdy cheer... but it's so cool!  It produces so many numbers it will make your head spin, or if you're like me you'll be tenting your fingers and saying "Excellent!" (Simpsons Reference)

McMillan's Predictions:

Get in Gear's time predicts a marathon of 5:12:37 

Women Rock's time predicts a marathon of 4:57:31  

I'm really curious about how this algorithm works.  I read about it in Marathon by Hal Higdon, and as I understand it took years of work to perfect.  I've somewhat assumed it to be the most accurate.    

However, there is also a race time predictor available at runner's world (http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/trainingcalculator), which is strictly based on a formula instead of a fancy algorithm.  I entered my race times on here too   

Runner's World Predictions. 

Get in Gear's time predicts a marathon of 5:09:41 

Women Rock's time predicts a marathon of 4:54:44  

Runner's World has me going a little faster... I guess we'll have to wait and see what's the most accurate.  

Let me be clear - these predictions make me happy! They all meet my goal (except for one which is 15 seconds shy :\).  However... 

The reality is these are just fancy algorithms and formulas.  Interesting in their science and valid in many ways, all calculations have breakdown at certain point.  For instance the Mcmillian gives me an ultra marathon prediction as well... but reality is it isn't something I could do unless I trained very very hard.  

My fair warning though is that last year, when I was messing around with race prediction widgets... and the numbers were not so kind as they are now; I did "better than predicted" - so if you use these "tools" realize that they are just that. 
_________________________________________________

What do you think of race prediction tools? 
I think they are fun and nerdy.  (What kind of Math Major would I be - if I didn't love numbers?) They give you a great idea of how you might perform, but shouldn't be trusted whole heartily   

Slowing Down and Doing Things

I'm officially into the taper portion of marathon training... and it's a tad eerie.  My mind thinks I should be running more, but apparently that's not what you do.  I read a book about it.

I felt a little sluggish when I started my 12 mile run today, and never really felt like I got out of my sluggishness... however  it was a record pace for that route for me, so I guess I can't complain too much.    

I started school this fall, and not just in the teaching sense.  I'm also taking classes.  So while it's absolutely true that I'm really happy to be able to do this and happier yet that I don't have to pay (My work is covering tuition), I'm insanely busy right now! ... or that's how it feels.  I've been getting in the bare minimum number of workouts in with regard to marathon training and I still feel like I'm still only keeping my head above water with school and work.

Whilst trying to tell myself everything is going to work out... I've been imagining a life with less to do.  I wake up, maybe I run, maybe I blog, I knit, then sew... and then I play video games.  It sounds nice doesn't it.   I also think it's funny that when I imagine a less stressful existence... I still imagine myself doing things.  I guess I'm that way or something.  The reality though is their are bills I want/need to pay and degrees I want to get and marathons I want to run.  My daydream of playing video games will have to hold off.  

So then there's today; I'm pushing the reset button a little.  Tony is out and about, so I'm doing laundry, some house cleaning, homework, and oh yeah I ran 12 miles.  I'm trying to relish in it.

Also, while cleaning I re-united with this shirt:  

Yeah, I did that.


  

28 for 28

28 marks yet another year in my time here on earth.  My birthday was Sept 11th, but better late than never I say.  I'm very comfortable with getting older; I'm a bit of an old soul anyways and sometimes it feels nice to have the number start to match how "mature" I feel.  I've always tended to bond with people who are older than me and as a teacher having a an extra year between me and my students helps garner some respect (which can be handy).  That being said, I find it odd that there is less and less of my 20s left and that my high-school and college years are safely in the last decade now.  When I was young I always spent time looking into the future and wondering what was next, but now I have more years to look back on as well and that shifts your perspective.

Last year I created 27 goals for my 27 years. You can read more detail on how I did on those here!

The tally:
Check! 15
Almost  5
Made an Attempt 1
No, not really 6

While I didn't accomplish every single one, I enjoyed creating, focusing and working toward many of them, so I figured why not do it again.

1. Run a sub 30 5K! - I'll do it one of these years! (yes! - twice I might add)
2. Run a sub 60 10K - much harder, but I'm currently optimistic (almost, had a 60:36 - so close!)
3. Finish 2nd Marathon in less than 5:12:22 (done!)
4. Get A's and B's in my classes this fall and going forward (yes, but mostly B's, oh well)
5. Research appropriate grad programs (I pretty much know what I'm doing here)
6. Make connections and new friends at school (I'd say so, actually ran into some old friends too)
7. Complete the Rubik's Cube (yes, but I needed help, still not perfected)
8. Learn how to do strength training (yes!)
9. "Strength Train" (yes! - a modest effort, but yes)
10.  Do an Olympic Distance Triathlon (not quite, did a longer than sprint tri though)
11. Eat at one new restaurant a month. (no, and this one was easy - lol)
12. Try an ethnic cuisine I have not before. (I did, I think it was peruvian)
13. Learn how to make ice cream (nope!)
14. Keep the blog "updated"(pff!)
15. Do a blog giveaway (nope!)
16. Continue to grow blog readership (doubtful)
17. Get better at Writing Thank you notes (better, still sort of a needs improvement thing)
18. Volunteer once per month (yes)
19. Remember Birthday's. (bettter)
20. Bake something for my coworkers (nope!)
21. Have friends over for food semi-monthly (close)
22. Accomplish a small sewing project (pff!)
23. Read a couple fiction books (not audio, not blogs, not non-fiction - I do plenty of that already!) (pff!)
24. Seek out Live Music (I think so, though the bf helped a lot with this.)  
25. Organize/Update iTunes selections (pff!)
26. Seek out professional development (I have a conference in mind) (I looked into this conf, but it was both a work scheduling challenge as well as difficulties in getting funds.)
27. Learn more about public policy (I've paid more attention to politics, most of what I've learned depresses me)
28. Move Successfully. (done!)

It's hard to specify 28 goals! Good practice, but hard.  A lot them ended up having vague terms like better and more, I thought about ways I could quantify them, but in some cases I would really be okay with simple realized improvement (nothing more/nothing less).  I have a few "life" categories represented here.  Fitness goals, those were in someways the easiest to make, because they are so easy to quantify.  Academic and Professional goals, I've decided to take the steps necessary to pursue my long awaited dream of going to grad school, which involves taking some undergrad courses first.  Blog goals, I want keep the blog active, but I know with my school pursuits I have to be realistic.  Also, longer post needed, but I will have to move in December, so I think that will be really hard.  Moving isn't really my thing, I'm not very organized like that, so wish me luck!