And the next day you are just plain CHEAP...sort of

Tyvek Jacket, yes indeed, my #2 great joy in running P.F. Chang's Rock-n-roll Arizona Marathon last weekend was my plain white $8 Tyvek jacket. My #1 joy of course was running the event with Wife...

Ok, a brief interlude here...she calls me Sweet Baboo so I can hardly keep refering to her as Wife. I'm not prone to terms of endearment, I'm more of an action guy, however, I'll dub Wife "Flutterby" My dear reader may never figure this one out and even Flutterby will have to scrutinize and dig deep into the mists our our first days together but I assure you all it is tied to a descriptive comment I made about her that she found quite endearing lo these many years ago.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

For those of you not in the know Tyvek is a brand of spunbonded olefin, a synthetic material made of high-density polyethylene fibers; the name is a registered trademark of the DuPont Company. The material is very strong; it is difficult to tear but can easily be cut with scissors or any other sharp object. Water vapor can pass through Tyvek, but not liquid water, so the material lends itself to a variety of applications...including my stupendously wonderful marathon jacket.

So as much as I'd love to go on about my super great Tyvek Jacket, that is not really the point of my post. The point of my post is the fact that my Tyvek jacket cost $8...and I jealously guarded it throughout the marathon...I safeguarded its transportation home...I carefully washed it, dried it and placed it gently upon my running cloths chair until I was able to wear it again on my next run. As a matter of fact...I'm looking fondly upon it right now thinking what a splendid time we will have together during my long run tomorrow!

I have a $100 limited edition print from a famous local artist...signed by her...and I don't have a clue where it is. I have a $500 suit sitting in my GARAGE...for the past YEAR because I was going to take it in for alterations but had to set it down quickly to adjust one of my bikes that was sitting slightly askew and was in grave danger of being scratched by my pump.

I should really take that suit in one of these days.

But it's EVEN more than that. About two months ago I finally bought new tires for my car because two of my exceedingly bald tires finally blew. I tried to get them repaired but the dealer just looked at me like a Koala bear was crawling out of my nose.

I'm a professional man...people at work call me "Doctor"...I wear 3 year old blue jeans and race t-shirts on my free time and at work...Oh the shame...

I sort of have a "uniform." I have two pair of corduroy pants for winter, two pair of chinos for spring and summer, one pair of brown leather shoes and an old tweed jacket that I wear year around, if I must. I keep all these clothes at work, in my filing cabinet, they are about 3 or 4 years old and fit well when I was about 50 lbs heavier. Fear not, I do wash them from time to time. I carry my limited selection of shirts, similarly aged, to work in my fanney pack along with my lunch. Since I bike to work I just wear gym socks...since I'm already wearing socks when I arrive at work...I just keep wearing them because I would look stupid biking home in dress socks...right?

My car is closing in on 200,000 miles and, as already mentioned, I carry my little sack lunch daily and on and on and on...

My expendatures on tri gear, races, travel to and from races, nutrition, hotels etc...now that's another story entirely.

I should hang my head and say, "What a sad state of affairs I have entered"

But you know...and I know...this RULES!