This summer, I started a decluttering challenge. I have a year to get rid of 2,000 things.

I had my eyes dead set on my running shirts. When I started running, I was always excited to see what the shirts would look like when I picked up my race packet. 

​But I've collected quite a few, and it's time to thin the herd. I reasoned I had my medals to remember races.

The first ones to get rid of are the cotton ones. (Well, I kept the free Rock 'N' Roll shirt I got for a virtual 5K.) Cotton isn't the best thing to run in. It does too good of a job collecting sweat and weighing you down.

I kept one long-sleeve shirt, as there are rumors of a winter season here every now and then.

I got rid of my training shirt for Team in Training and the TNT shirt I used for my run with the team. My alum shirt remains.

If you didn't know, you can change your t-shirts into quilts. There are services like Project Repat.

But I'm also getting rid of blankets, so that wouldn't really solve my clutter problem. 

So, goodbye "Turtle" shirt and others. It was fun.

What do you do with your old racing shirts? Do you keep most of them?

I’ve been eyeing the TomTom Runner Cardio for a few months. It has a built-in heart monitor. I know my skin, which is constantly scratched by my heart monitor would appreciate the upgrade. 

I was set to buy it this year and then the Timex Ironman One GPS+ showed up on my radar. It’d let me go running without a phone and still reach my family if needed. It includes free live tracking and a built-in MP3 player. 

So there is my dilemma. The Timex costs at least $100 more than the Cardio. 

I’m leaning toward the Timex, but I was so looking forward to giving my skin a break, so it could recover from the heart-monitor cuts. Plus, I’ve grown accustomed to the TomTom interface.

I guess I’ll end up creating a pros and cons list for them. I know I’d really like to just go out for a run without have to find something to carry my phone. But those are usually quick runs, and I don’t know if the convenience is worth paying more than $300 for the Timex. (My hydration belt has extra pockets during long runs, so the phone’s not a big inconvenience.)

With my phone, my family can already track me with Find My Friends. They never us that and end up texting or calling me, so I don’t know the likelihood of them contacting me through the Timex app. 

Plus, I can’t play Run Zombies! on the Timex. 

I may scratch both of them from my list and invest in some new Bluetooth headphones. When I splashed water on my head during a run, the water got into the headphones. I can’t understand what anyone's saying when they call, and they can’t understand me.