The mall

Earl wound up being mostly a bust here. Saturday was breezy but they said that the ocean beaches had 6-9 foot waves with a lot of standing water. Sunday might have been the best day of the year weather-wise. I was looking for an adventure with the family since this was the last weekend before school starts on Wednesday.

I wound up went to the mall with my 12 year old daughter clothes shopping. Yes, clothes shopping. At the mall. Me. I decided to frame this as a workout.

You doubt this is a workout? Try it some day.

The mental and physical aspect of preteen shopping are almost unbelievable . The disorientation of going into dark stores with "music" blasting challenges the mental stress of intervals. The battling of finding a parking spot and that walking for what seems like miles to go from one store to the other rivals a long run. The acting as a Sherpa carrying the purchases can easily be considered weight training. Avoiding tripping over the unsupervised little kids running through the rack are as difficult as most agility drills.

The only thing I imagine could be worse would be shopping with more than one kid. My older daughter admired the clothes we picked out and said that I should take her shopping next. I think I need some recovery first.

PS: I swam on Monday morning in the Sound as part of this recovery. The air temp was in the low 50s (yeah, baby) and the water temp was about 70 without any serious chop. The sand was cold but once we got in the water it was perfect. Great swim.