Apparel

Being nice to a stranger turned out awesome!

| cheriarmour

Sometimes it’s tempting to be a grouchy pain in the butt, but I (and I hope I’m not the only one), sometimes have to remind myself that being a grouchy pain isn’t any fun, and that I need to be sweet, because everyone deserves that.

The other morning, a woman walked into work with a cane, looking to be fit for a pair of sneakers.  We got to chatting on the fit stool, and as it turned out, she’d battled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and she was dealing with a flare-up of sorts, and had been using the cane for a month.  We chatted for a while, because CFS is similar in its manifestation to Fibromyalgia, which my mother has struggled with for years.  So we found her a pair of shoes, and we looked for shirts that would be a nice fabric for her to be able to wear when her CFS was flaring up.  Took like 30 or 40 minutes out of my day, and I thought nothing of it.

As I was helping her find a few things, I’d gotten cold, so I’d pulled a Nike hooded half-zip jacket off the rack, and wore it around while we poked around for some things for her to wear.  She’d complimented the color.

So a few days later, I roll into work, and there was a bag with my name on it.  Inside the bag was a jacket, and a note for the name of a specialist who may be able to help my mom.  And the jacket.  Wow.  Whoa.

hoodie
Sister to my Nike Element Full Zip, this is the Nike Element Hooded Half-Zip. Still warm and fuzzy on the inside, plus an adorable hood you can pull over to protect from a light rain or wind. This one isn’t going to protect you from wind as well as the full-zip, but it seems like it may retain heat just a little bit better.

Beside the fact that the jacket is warm, cute, and has the most adorable little hood thing on top, I’m going to wear this around as a reminder to be nice, even when you don’t feel like it. Not because people will buy you jackets, which is totally cool too, but because clearly, our chat meant enough to this kind lady to return to the store, go out of her way, and take time to put a smile on my face. At any rate, send a lot of good vibes her way, so we can get her back running like she wants to do 🙂

Boobs!

| cheriarmour

Made you look!

Now I’m not sure, how in all of my posting about running, I managed to overlook the important topic of support!  (Sorry fellows, if you’ve continued reading, you may want to bow out here.  I don’t think I can offer you anything in this post.  Sorry!)  But I received a message the other day from an old friend of mine, Sam Zelin, asking me to post a little more in-depth about the topic of support.  Thanks, Sam!  Let’s do it!

Ladies, let’s chat about boobs.  If you’re going to be active – whether it’s running, Turbokick, Yoga, or Zumba, and whether you’re small-chested, or not, you need support.  Not having adequate support is not an excuse to not get active, especially when there are options for every lady out there.  And there is absolutely nothing more painful than when you’re driving down the street.  You look to your right and there’s a girl running.  And her breasts look like they’re fully prepared to give her black eyes.  That’s not good at all.

Boobs!
This is a well-supported pair. This particular bra is the Vixen, which supports without creating the uniboob effect that so many of us seem to hate.

So the first step? Identify where you fall. Are you small-chested? Middle-of-the-road? Larger chested? Breastfeeding? Just had a baby? Once you identify this, get a real bra fitting to get your actual size. Not the size you think you are. About 80% of women are wearing the wrong bra size. Sometimes, me included, because I can’t seem to let go of some old bras. But get a real fitting for a real bra. THEN take yourself down to the local running specialty store (Fleet Feet ain’t a bad start!) and let the uber-qualified ladies meet your needs.  Whatever you do absolutely DO NOT, do not, DO NOT run down to Target, or worse, Wal-Mart, and grab one of those nasty Champion/Danskin bras off their bra table.  What will happen is your boobs will flop around everywhere as you exercise, unless you put two on.  Which is stupid.  You should not have to layer bras to get a sweet exercise situation poppin off.  At any rate, here’s a little guide to help you when you get down for your first official sports bra fitting.

  Bra
Small Breasts You actually can get away with one of those Champions, but it’s not the best option.   Try Moving Comfort’s Alexis, Phoebe, Vixen, or Charity for a little bit of compression, as well as some high-impact support.
Medium Breasts You may need a little more support than some of our smaller-chested friends.  Try Moving Comfort’s Vixen, Juno, Fiona, or Jubralee.   
Large Breasts This is where I fall.  I was always convinced that there wasn’t a bra out there for me, but there is!  For us ladies, try Moving Comfort’s Fiona, Maia, or Juno.
REALLY Large Breasts Ladies, don’t fret.  There is definitely a bra out there for you.  For you ladies (bless you!) try Moving Comfort’s Maia.  Also Enell makes a great bra called the Enell Sport. It’s not pretty, by any means, but it will do the job.

Honorable mentions: Nike makes a super decent sports bra with adequate compression and shape, so that’s not a bad route to go. If you’re looking for something cute? Check out your favorite running sneaker company, and look at their apparel. Usually they’ll have a decent bra to match whatever new outfit you have.

Now this list is by no means exhaustive, however, Moving Comfort really changed my approach to working out. Instead of having to put two bras on, one Fiona got me through countless summers teaching fitness to teens at camp. In addition, spend money on your bras! If you pay $14 for a bra, what the heck do you expect your boobs to do?

A few things….

| cheriarmour

This is why we run.

Rise

If you think for a second that just cause we run, we don’t like to eat, you are very sadly mistaken.  I’ve been dibblin and dabblin in running for a few years now, and the more I run, the more wicked my sweet tooth gets.  The way I prevent myself from getting as big as a house is that I just can’t keep the good stuff around the house.  However, if someone brings them to work?  You better run.

Mizuno Matt brought us some donuts from Rise (a Bakery in Durham around Southpoint), so instead of eating my lunch, I ate most of an Oreo.  Then I pretended I was only going to eat half of a chocolate by cutting it in half.  I ate the first half, got three steps away, and ate the second half.  Woops.

GlovesAnd sometimes when you run, you find out what you’re doing is just not gonna work whatsoever.  I ran early this morning, where the temps were holding around a balmy and breezy 23 degrees.  ::fans self:: Hawt!  Anyhoo, obviously I was wearing my gloves and the whole shebang, but I think I touched my face a few times because by the end of the 6-miler, my hands were soaked, and I was in some pretty serious pain.  Thankfully, I managed to loop back around to my house, where I spent the next 20 minutes in absolutely agonizing pain.  I ran out after lunch today and hastily procured a new pair of thicker, drier gloves.  That brush with frostbite was more than enough for me to learn my lesson!

Disappointing start to Saturday

| cheriarmour

I was hoping to run a quick short run before I headed to Zumba today – and I got new gear that I wanted to try out, so I was extra pumped.

So I bundled up, and was met with the remnants of last night’s “weather event”

Weather 1

Aw shucks.  Maybe the street is better?

Weather 2

 

And as I was stepping of the complex into the street, I slipped, with the Jacksons “Enjoy Yourself” playing as the soundtrack.

Weather 3

 

I’m gonna have to try again tomorrow with my new gear (the Nike Element Shield Full-Zip in the most gorgeous shade of orange-red you’ve ever seen that looks AMAZING with my skin tone but whatever), and hopefully, 16 miles doesn’t hurt too badly after a day off.

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).