How Mc Donald's cost me $100

I rarely leave the office for lunch. I've been that way in every job I've ever held. It's just cheaper and easier to bring a nice little Le@n Cu!sine to eat at my desk, so that's the route I've always gone.

Today, though, I decided to go out. Heck, I ran 13.1 miles Sunday (more on that later), and if I'm craving McDonald's, I'm going. I earned it!

I considered getting my lunch and eating it at a park nearby, but when I was walking to my car, I realized it might still be too hot to do that. I opted to head to the mall instead to return a tunic I'd been meaning to take back. Being productive and still getting my crap food fix at the same time? Score!

As I headed in the direction of the mall, I passed under a tree-lined street. A gust of wind made the leaves rain down over the road. I smiled. I had football on my TV last weekend, and now this? Fall feels just around the corner!

When I got to Banana Republic, it seemed I wasn't the only person who'd come up with the lunchtime productivity idea. Since the line was really long and there was only one cashier, I decided the best use of my time would be to look around the store.

Turns out Banana had been bitten by the Autumn Bug too.

Unfortunately, a trip to the dressing room only solidified my desire for a pair of brown corduroy pants (they actually had them in long!!! do you know how hard that is to find in corduroy?!) and two adorable, stylish fall shirts.

Aren't they so retro-modern chic?! You know how much I love yellow, and the other shirt has that great faux tie thing going on. And the updated houndstooth? Who could pass that up?! sigh  You win, Banana. You win.

I bought them all. I told myself it was a reward for finishing the half-marathon. And considering the pants were on sale (that was a fun surprise!), my total was under $100 (so what if that included the refund from the tunic I returned!). That wasn't even $1 for every minute I ran on Sunday.

On my way back to the office, I still swung through McDonald's. It was fantastic, but not quite as exciting as my Banana find.

As fantastic as today's lunch break was, it served as a great reminder of why I don't leave my desk for lunch. Looks like Le@n Cu!sines for me for the next several weeks.

Especially after I run my full marathon in November!