Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Wow I Spent a Lot of Money

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. My family has a tradition of going out to eat so that no one needs to cook to clean. After, we all come home and go through the newspaper ads, making an agenda for the night/next day. With websites like BlackFriday.com where ads get leaked early, I've been ahead of the game for a few years now. What I didn't expect, was how many running deals I'd find. 

My Major Purchase

My new watch

So to start, let's look at my big purchase of the year... The Garmin Venu 2S watch. As you know from my previous post, this watch's purchase was already planned. I waited until the sales began and I'm glad I did. Garmin has a price lock so all retailers have to keep the price equal. This means that whether you buy directly from Garmin, on Amazon, Best Buy, etc. the price is set by Garmin. However, retailers can still offer add-on type of deals. Enter my favorite Black Friday store... Kohls. Kohls offered $15 of Kohls Cash for every $50 spent on Black Friday and again on Cyber Monday. This means that you pay the regular price, but you get a gift certificate (sort of) to spend the week after Black Friday. So I bought the watch which was priced $350 and earned $105 in Kohls Cash. I then spent that $105 on gifts for my nephews. Luckily Kohls carries Legos and the boys are obsessed. 

Next, I selected the watch I did because I wanted the rose gold bezel but I'm not a huge fan of a white band. It seems that while tons of vendors sell the Garmin watches, not many sell the accessories. Following what happened with my Fossil watch last year when the band snapped during a run, I know I don't want to risk a third-party band. I ordered a pink band on Garmin's website and it should arrive by the end of the week. I want a leather band too for dressier outfits but they only had white and navy leather so I'm going to wait.

Now for the real question, how will it fair in terms of features, battery life, etc. So far, I've had it on for a full day and the battery life seems better than my old Fossil. I'm hoping to go for a run tomorrow so I'll keep you posted on how the GPS and heart monitor works and how it affects the battery life. So far though, I really like how it looks and feels. 

A Few Races

Woken by Mickey

That's right, even races had Black Friday deals. Since my five year old nephew was up early, so was I. Seriously did we watch cartoons so loud at 6am? Well, I was going through my emails on the phone when I saw Atlantic City was offering 50% off races for the first 50 people that registered, then 20% off for everyone else. Guess who was awake early enough to be one of the first 50? So I'm registered for the Bungalow Beach Boardwalk 5 Miler in June that follows the boardwalk and ends on the sand.

Next, I saw a Cyber Monday deal for the Hot Chocolate 5K where the price wasn't better but they threw in extra swag. So I'm getting a cooler backpack which will be great when I take my bike grocery shopping. I choose the 5K instead of the 15K because of the price. I didn't think it was worth the extra money since this will be my first time during the Hot Chocolate run and it's in April when the weather is still iffy.

Finally, I registered for the Philadelphia Distance Run. This was not a Black Friday special but they opened registration this week so I know the prices only go up as time passes.