48 hrs since our return to Jakarta, overall transition back to “normal” schedule was smooth. 2 hrs after we got home on Monday, we’ve unpacked, the house is in order, the helper will clean loads of laundry, we had a vegetable abundant dinner and felt satisfied. I didn’t sleep much during the flights while girls slept through most of the second flight (8 hrs). So I got super sleepy by 7pm and finally went to bed 7:30pm. Girls stayed up until 2am, husband arrived 11:30pm. I woke up with sunlight, past 6am, couldn’t believe how long I’ve slept. I had a work call at 7:30am. After making breakfast and packed lunch for the girls, I managed to squeeze 30 min jogging in the gym before the call.
Tuesday went well. I crossed all my to-do list at work and was up-to-date by the end of the business hour. Girls had a good day, husband slept through the whole morning. Tuesday night Lizzy fell asleep by 7pm, Sofia and I went to bed 8pm, and both wake up between 10-11pm. We read together, had warm milk, I took a melatonin and went back to bed around 1am. I woke up again at 5am with semi-productive 3 hrs of sleep. Well… I guess jet lag is unavoidable after all. I don’t stress about it, just let the body adjust by itself. Do my routine as if I don’t have jet lag, went to run and gym, work full day in the office, and now 5pm super sleepy. I’ll probably go to sleep early, hoping to not wake up too early again. If I do, it’s okay too, will get back to reading.
Two things I want to share:
Money decision. How do you decide whether to spend money on something that is a necessity? Is it the price? if it’s less than 10 dollars, just buy? what if you can’t find it elsewhere? Is it affordability? I didn’t think about it much until our Paris trip when buying souvenirs. I have weakness with mugs. I found 2 mugs that I really like and couldn’t decide which one to get. They were 12 euros each, so technically I can afford to get them both, which I thought about it. But at the end I got one, while concerned that I might regret it later. Well… I don’t regret it. I am happy with the one I have, and really don’t need two mugs from Paris when I already don’t have space for more mugs. Similar situation happened when getting other things and my decision was consistent, not get extra due to scarcity (can’t get it after Paris) but think about whether I need more than one or really need another piece of chocolate for instance. I find deciding on small purchases “harder” than big ones, as it’s not about whether I can afford or not, not even if it’s reasonably priced or not, but rather do I really need it. If it’s something expensive, I am usually more decisive. For example, luxury bags, when I saw the price, immediately I know I don’t want to spend on that. What about you?
Deciding about my next race. I am undecided between running another marathon this year (Oct/Nov) or wait until next spring. I love the training process, so wait until next year seems too far away. However, I am concerned about the risk of injury if training too hard for prolonged period of time. I also want to have the similar experience of Paris, going to a destination race with the family. That means I need to find a race around school break, ideally in the region to lower the cost, in a cool climate, and a location that we haven’t been and want to visit. I’ve been searching for such an “ideal” race, so far only one appears to be fitting all the criteria, perth marathon. Unfortunately, the full marathon is sold out, I’ve sign up for waitlist but it’s unlikely to get it. I am thinking about doing the half instead. It means I’ll still be training and still respectable distance and effort, a middle ground between another full marathon cycle this year and wait until next year. I’ll sit on this idea for few days and decide. If you are a marathon runner, have you run more than one race per year?
Our New Journey 
Interesting question about money – I am like you, the smaller decisions are sometimes harder! Why is that, I wonder. I mean, I have been dithering about buying heatless hair curlers, and they are $30, so it’s not exactly a giant purchase. But I’ve been thinking about it for MONTHS.
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Ever since my In-Laws passed away, and we had to clean out their (very organized and clutter free) house, one of my metrics for buying things is, “Do I want my kids to have to decide what to do with this when I die?” That helps me gets to the core of “Is it something I need and will use now?”
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With buying decisions, it’s always a “NO” by default unless it’s a necessity. But what really is a necessity these days?… I have to really, really want something for me to get it, otherwise it is stuffing up the house.
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I am with Diane – would I eventually pass it to someone and/or would they want it and/or would I want them to have to sort through it or throw it away when I die? I know, it is morbid, but I just threw away and gave away SO. MUCH. STUFF. and I do not want to have to do that again nor do I want someone else to have to do it. I do not need more things, and I would prefer to remember experiences or take photos than have an actual item. PS I have never really been a souvenir buyer, even before the great purge.
Re the marathon, I say go for a fall one; could you do one without the family and one with? Or one that is closer? Or shorter? Maybe a trail 30k or 50k to spice it up? There are a lot of options!
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I don’t want to do another race without the family unless absolutely necessary such as London that wouldn’t fall in school break. If I can choose, then I’d want to bring them. I’ll probably due a half marathon.
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First time commenting – I love your blog! Have you considered the Victoria, British Columbia, Canada marathon? It happens every year in early October. I’m not sure how that aligns with school breaks, but I live in Victoria and the weather here is usually beautiful the time of year and around 15 degrees. It’s a beautiful city with lots of ocean and mountain views throughout the run.
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I’d love to run that one as my husband lived there. Due to the toll
of jet lag on me, I wouldn’t run another race in North America until we move to another region.
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Hmm- could you run a full marathon in the fall, and then the Perth half in the spring, and make that one coincide with the family vacation? OR, what about a full marathon next winter? Would there be any options for that? Fall might be kind of soon if you’re looking for a nice recovery period before racing again.
For the mug scenario- I would also WANT both of them, and the thing that would make me just pick one would be limited space. I don’t even have enough space for the mugs I have. But I love getting new mugs! I would definitely be limited to one though. It’s a tough question, because if it’s something you could only get in Paris would you end up regretting not getting it- sounds like the answer is no.
I hope you’re over the jetlag soon. I agree, there’s no way to completely avoid it. Your body will get itself back on track!
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If I have questions about if I need something or don’t have storage for it, I just don’t buy it. LOL. I’m too frugal. I also sort of worry about who is going to deal with all our stuff when we die and if it will be useful for them.
BUT. If I know I’ll use it, I won’t hesitate to buy it. Because life is meant to be lived!
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I am kind of an under buyer in general so don’t feel tempted to buy small things typically. I like to bring an ornament back from every trip but we did not buy one in Destin when we were on vacation last week. my husband is such a minimalist and has really rubbed off on me!
I have only ran 4 marathons and they were all in different years. I preferred to only run one marathon/year since they are a really big time commitment and can be hard on your body!
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Hi Coco, I’ve come across your blog via another 🙂 Not sure if it will make you feel better about Perth being sold out, but I live here and last year it was an extremely hot day and lots of runners had to pull out/be collected along the course. So maybe not quite the cool temperature you’re hoping for though a lovely and scenic run. If you do make it across for the half, I’d be happy to give recommendations etc 🙂
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Hi hi! So nice you commented. I signed up for the half and will come with the family for a full week after the race. I’d appreciate to get your recommendations. Please drop me an email so i can ask you the details. 🙂
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