Uncategorized

Taking Care of your Hair When You Work out 5 Million Times a Week

| cheriarmour

First off, Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone had a great holiday!  I didn’t break from running, as you’ll note on my ticker.  On to the monster post!

I work out a fair bit between teaching Zumba, running, running for Haiti, and working in a shop completely dedicated to running. I also was blessed with a huge full head of hair. Not a complaint at all…usually people think it’s pretty cool, ask to touch it, stare at it, and on one creepy occasion, a guy asked if he could cut a piece of it off for his personal enjoyment. Yikes. Working out make me feel good, keeps me looking decent, and emotionally balances me. The only complaint I have is it wreaks havoc with my hair. But we can’t let that stop us, right? So here, a few lady friends of mine gave me their best tips on how to care for your hair in a workout situation.

photo
This is the hair I’ve been growing since I was about a junior in high school. That was 2004ish, so about 8 or 9 years. I love it, but when I’m working out, I’ll be darned if it isn’t a little hard to manage! I wash about once a week, and moisturize with a hair gloss to lock in natural oils whenever I can. To freshen up, I spritz with water and tea tree oil on days when I know I can’t wash.

Joy (a Zumba teacher!), says CUT IT OFF. A little extreme if you’re attached, but hey, it does the trick right?

Arielle, a fellow camp counselor of mine, rocks a gorgeous, thick curly head of hair. She wears it pulled up during the exercise, conditions every day, but washes only 3 times a week. Among women who work out, I see this a lot, (not washing every day).

Kimmy is my adorable younger sister. “I rarely ever flat iron my hair, moisturizer everyday, wash once to twice a week and I’m about to put it in twists for my internship bc being in the ocean everyday and out in the sun is gonna dry it out I don’t need the agitation of combing and washing everyday on top of that.”

Kimmy Hair
So this is Kimmy, the youngest of my sisters.

Lauren Elliot, Kristin Jones, and Samantha Seeberg all seem to be big fans of some version of dry shampoo after a workout to stave off having to wash all the oil out of their hair after every single workout.

Miss Carly Swanson is firstly, one of my running inspirations.  I met this teeny beauty a few years ago when we both worked for North Carolina State University, and I am honored to say I know her.  She’s incredibly motivated.  Carly a fan of tying her long hair up in a cute Jasmine (from Aladdin) style braid thingie in order to prevent her long hair from getting in her way when she’s running or lifting.  We hope to have Cary’s two cents in here a little more often.

And finally, Whitney Saulsberry and I, the two black girls who work out, have mastered a way to go about 5 days between washes.  This involves a lot of conditioner, natural styles, braids, dreadlocks, and as little heat as possible to protect our dry hair.

And there you have it.  In this monster post, I hope you can pick up a few tips to keep in moving despite wanting your hair to look fly in your off time!

Sisters
The three of us, all rocking distinctly different textures and styles in Auburn, Alabama.

I forgot my watch!

Image | | cheriarmour

Watch

I normally log my pace, distance, and total time with my pride and joy, my Garmin 610. But today, I rushed off to work in a cloud of perfume, and totally forgot it. I picked up one of the employee testers, and had a go. It’s not my watch, but it certainly did the job!

Post-Apocalyptic Run

Image | | cheriarmour

Post-Apocalyptic Run

As we all know, the world ended at some point today. I think I’m one of the left-behinds, so I decided to do a short, zippy 3-miler before work. I hope those of you who were also left behind will take a moment to behold the horrors I encountered on my End of the World run. Sunshine, perfect temps, and a cool breeze were just a few. Also, if you’re too left behind, I’ll trade you some canned goods for a little donation for my beloved Haiti! What do you say?

Guest Blogger

| cheriarmour

Me and Ashley

The beautiful young woman pictured to my right is one of my best friends in the entire world, Ashley Little.

We met freshman year at Elon University, and it has been nothing short of a pleasure to be her friend.  Ashley Little is beautiful, smart, like-minded, hardworking, and did I mention, beautiful?  And I am honored to have her guest blogging here today.  Ashley, who is also a wonderful writer, honored me by speaking on why Haiti still needs our help.

“You might say that the tiny nation of Haiti was born out of struggle.

In 1804, after a bitter, long fought battle, Haiti became the first black republic to declare its independence. Sadly, the country (the poorest in the western hemisphere) has been plagued by political, social, and economic turmoil ever since.  And in January 2010, it was dealt yet another devastating blow: A 7.0 earthquake descended violently upon Haiti, leaving behind an unimaginable, and catastrophic path of destruction.

In the days and weeks to come, the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years became a fixture in national news.  And the global response, (particularly in terms of humanitarian aid) was extraordinary. But even a natural disaster of this magnitude proved to have a short shelf life, quickly fading from the public conscience.

Amongst all of the rubble, Haiti is a country of endless beauty; manifested especially in the resilience, and optimism of its people. However, there is still much work to be done:

40 % of the 10 million people in Haiti do not have access to clean water. (source: http://www.waterandhealth.org)

Cholera is rampant, and has claimed over 7,000 lives while afflicting 6 percent of the population.

Hundreds of thousands of Haitians remain housed in camps and otherwise overcrowded, and deplorable conditions.

(sources: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=6362&cat=field-news)

Out of struggle and tragedy also comes triumph.  And together, we can continue to rebuild, and restore Haiti. They are still in dire need of our help today.  Let’s start one mile at a time.”

Me and Shawn!

Image | | cheriarmour

Me and Shawn!

One of my favorite favorite things to do is to go on run-dates. They give me a little more of a kick in the pants when I’m not feeling particularly inspired to run. This lovely lady is my friend, Shawn, who actually made the 1st flat-rate donation to ‘Running for Haiti’. We ran about 6 miles around a local lake, and chatted the entire time! (And she’s extremely gracious for allowing me to photograph us sweaty and gross :))

This is what I do in my secret life….

| cheriarmour

When I’m not raising funds for Haiti, or working at the local running specialty shop, I teach Zumba.

I stumbled upon it when I was like 16, and I was hooked (thank you, Koh Herlong!)

I think I’m pretty good at it…my classes seem to like me, anyways. Anyhoo, this past weekend was our Holiday party, so the antlers got another workout.

Zumba!These are my Zumba friends, whom I love SO dearly. Nora, Erin, Me, Adis, and Kathy! (Nora is a fellow runner – hopefully she’ll make a repeat appearance in this blog – as long as I’ve been running, she’s been my total inspiration)

Running in the freezing cold! Brrrr!

| cheriarmour

I wrote this post on a ridiculously cold morning.  And as my luck would have it, the entire week following my writing of this post, it was like 70 degrees, and I did my long run in a pair of booty shorts.  Womp.  Eventually, it got cold.  And now I’m back to complaining like nothing ever happened!

I am a ridiculously cold-blooded person.  For a number of reasons.  I don’t think I have a large percentage of body fat, so that can’t help matters.  I don’t have a ton of body hair, aside from the 27-pounds of dreaded hair on my head.  And I also suffer with a mild case of Reynaud’s Phenomenon, which sucks the warmth out of my hands and feet.  I’m told fish oil helps, so I’m burping oil for the cause currently.  So even though I live in a somewhat mild climate (here in Raleigh, NC), it’s taken everything in me to keep running through cold temps in the morning.  So how do we run in the winter?

If you’re battling through the cold, here are a couple of essentials you may not want to forget.

Head over you your local running specialty store and stock up on:

1. Running tights.  They’re going to make your booty look like a Nicki Minaj booty, and they’ll keep you warm!

2. Wool socks.  Not lame granny ones.  Expensive ones that will make you feel guilty for dropping  $14 on socks.  But they’re gonna do the job.

3. A long-sleeved shirt with thumb holes.  If you get too hot, push the sleeves up.  Layering is key here!

4. Something to cover your ears.

5.  And last, but not least…GLOVES!  My favorites are these Brooks gloves with a wind-shield on them.  They’ll keep you warm for as long as you need, and then they’ll tuck away nicely when your hands get too warm about 15 minutes in.

Get yourself down to a local running specialty store, (like a Fleet Feet) and get your winter gear so you have zero excuse to slack this winter.  (Also, as a total side note, PLEASE invest in some reflective gear so drivers can see you…half of these fools are texting and driving at the same time so wear something super bright for the extra darkness we get this time of year).

Guess what?!

| cheriarmour

Nike Women's Half

If you haven’t figured out what’s going on, in the midst of launching Running for Haiti, I got some good news today.  I was selected to run the Nike Women’s Half Marathon on April 28th, 2013!  How cool right?!  I get to train for ANOTHER cool cause (this race benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society), while I run for Haiti.  I could not be more pumped!