Recon$iliation

Yeah, I know "reconciliation" is spelled with a c. Whatever. Give me my $-laden blog titles. BECAUSE TODAY IS THE BLOG WHERE I COUNT ALL THE MONEY I'VE SPENT SO FAR! Sing that part in caps! Festive! (I'm hyper! Nervous! Hyper! Money! Ahhh!)

WAIT.
Before I start saying how much money I've spent on this, since in theory people I am asking to donate might cruise to this page on the road to being convinced to donate, let's spend some time on a philosophical question.
The question is........does it make sense to spend possibly more than the amount I need to raise via donation? Rather, why not just donate a bunch of money to cancer (read: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society)? Right? This is a thing we TNT'ers talk about fairly often.
Answer is........I think.............awareness? Right? Awareness?
Wait. Hold up. I'm gonna talk me through this slower, and in the form of a horrible horrible, made-up dialogue.
Person 1: Whoa, you're doing Ironman. Nuts.
Me: Yep. Nuts!
Person 2: Whoa, that's nuts!
Me: Okay guys! You're making me bashful here.
Person 1: WHY. are you doing that.
Me: Uhhh.....fundamental brain malfunction. No. Wait. I'm raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I lost an uncle to blood cancer. So...and...I couldn't train for this without being on a team. So. Both. Intertwined.
Person 1: That's rad.
Me: Okay. Give me money.
Person 1: Errr..

Okay, that didn't help me. The point is....hmm...we don't normally like to give $ to things, even though we want to help the things that we are sort of avoiding giving money to. So then I do this thing that's really difficult, and it makes you impressed, and this makes you give me money. Right? Or, better than that, me having to raise the money makes me squack about this thing I'm doing way more, and then maybe makes you think about wanting to do it, and together! we proselytize! For weird fundraising efforts generally and cancer awareness specifically and OKAY, I'm cool. I did it! I have cooled my jets!

Now, let's count some receipts.

Specialized 2009 Dolce Comp Biiiike - $1,650.00
Shimano PDA530 Clip / Platform Pedals - $85.00
Black Butt Pad Bike Shorts - $38.25
Specialized Bike Pump - $34.00
Rad Fold-away Wall Mount Bike Rack - $25.50
Water Bottle Cage - $7.65

Okay wait. This is where I have to say a cool thing that happened. Cynergy, where I bought my bike, didn't give me my TNT discount when I bought my bike. I was bummed but embarrassed to insist. Mike Rizzi told me to ask anyway, and they gave it to me retroactively, a MONTH later. So the next things I will list with their prices, but they all ended up being free after the $165 or something bucks I got.

Women's Small Cycling Gloves - $29.75
Specialized Cycling Jersey on 50% discount! - $29.98
Mini Wedgie Bag (Survival Kit) - $16.00
Speedzone Sport Wireless Cyclometer - $38.25
Ultraflate Plus CO2 Holder Inflater Thing - $15.30
Park TL-1 Tire Levers - $2.55
Park Glueless Patch Kit - $2.00
Pro Bar Cocoa Pistachio (yum!) - $2.97
FRS Recovery Drink Single Serving - $2.25
all "free" !

FRS Recovery Drink Packets x2 - $5.78
Bodyglide - $8.00
Labor to remove broken shifter to send to Shimano for repair - $20.00
Shipping to Shimano - $5.00
Broken shifter replaced for free by Shimano (warranty) - Awesome
48mm Spare Tubes x2 - $16.00
2-pack CO2 cartridges - $8.00
FRS Single Serve Recovery Drink x4 - $11.56
Pro Bar Sesame Goji (mmm!) x2 - $6.60
Generic but Awesome Cycling Cap that I lost in Sydney - $16.00
Frog Lights x2 - $18.00
New Wireless Cyclometer because I didn't have one part for the old one but they didn't have the part at the store I was at so I bought a whole new one and still need to sell the other one on Craigslist - $42.60
Pedometer that doesn't click but that I still haven't used - $24.99
Racer Back Sports Bra that rubs the skin off my ribs if used for more than 1' - $16.99
BAD ASS Cycling Knickers with Butt Pad - $55.24
Dual Bottle Cage Mount - $49.99 (!!!!)
5 more water bottles - $24.95
New Generic Cycling Cap, also awesome - $15.99
Hammer Sustained Energy Drink Powder - $54.99 (supplements! oy yoy yoy)
Target's Perfect Cheap Digital Watch to replace the one I lost - $9.99
Tyr Alliance Practice Swim Suit - $39.99
Tyr Latex Swim Cap x2 - $5.98
Tyr Anti-Fog Drops (spit's not cutting it!) - $2.99

In addition, the earlier rounds of spending I did, that I'm a bit lazy to track down the blog entry for OR I just lost the receipt or something (read: estimates):
Asics Bad Ass Running Shoes that I love - $80.00
Inserts for Running Shoes - $25.00
Socks! x6 that I have lost all but 3 pairs of - $18.00
Speedo One Piece Practice Suit - $35.00
Original Angrishly Expensive Swim Caps - $11.00
Goggles x2 - $21.00

And then there's gas + picking up Cliff / Promax / PowerBars etc before practices...hmm..let's toss another $120.00 onto the pile.

The maybe total so far - note the general Bike-sucking-up-the-$ trend:
$2,610

Hmmm. Phew. Sigh.