Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Art of the Craigslist Run

For a few months now I've been trying something different on my Saturday long runs.
  • I love to run
  • I love a good bargain
  • After nearly 10 years of running the inner loop, I'm out of new route ideas
The solution is the craigslist run.

The way it works is the night before my long run, I check craigslist for garage sales in the areas I like to run. I select the most promising ones and build a route around them using gmaps pedometer. I take cash and business cards with me in case I find something I want to come back for, and voila! New fresh running route with fun stops along the way!

Most of the time I don't get anything, but two weeks ago I got two new designer tops (unworn, with tags still on) for $5 apiece. The week before that it was a blouse and skirt for $3 each (the blouse still had original tags). Today, I got three pair of earrings, $5 for the lot of them, and one pair was an exact match to a necklace I had at home.

I'm having a great time with my new route-planning method and I'll be disappointed when winter sets in and pickings become scarce. Luckily most of the year is garage sale weather in Houston, though. I'll have new routes for years to come!

6 comments:

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Awesome. I'm lovin' it!

Glenna said...

Hah! Ingenious! You hadn't written about running for a while, so I was wondering if the writing had knocked it out or knocked it down.

the Bag Lady said...

What a clever idea! Mixing shopping and exercise!

Hef's Mom said...

I love it! I did this all summer while walking Shadow the Dog. Sometimes people give her treats.

RG said...

There are yet the latte loop, the restaurant run, the museum meander, etc ... way too go.

d. moll, l.ac. said...

An idea whose time is now!