A Dose of San Diego Sunshine

Greetings from San Diego!

One of my good friends from when I used to live down here is having a baby very, very soon, so I decided to make a trip down south for her baby shower. Crystal is also along for the ride (she and I met when we both lived down here). Today, we took advantage of the hot, sunny weather and went from a run along one of my old favorite routes, a 5k loop from Little Italy down to the Embarcadero and back.

Tank: Under Armour [similar]

Sports bra: Lululemon [similar]

Pants: GapFit [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

Since I'm used to running in San Francisco's permanent spring/fall weather, the heat took its toll today! It was not a very fast run for me, and I was sweating quite a bit by the end. Fortunately, this tank top is vented in the back, so it was a great choice for a warm day. I think shorts would've been a better option for the bottom half of my outfit, though. 

Crystal and me mid-run at Seaport Village

Here's hoping that the rest of the weekend has equally beautiful weather!

Running and Rock Climbing

Despite the cold weather this week, today was much nicer! So, I decided to head down to the water for a run in the sunshine. I even busted out a tank top for it! Before I headed out, though, my friends Kim and Brent texted, asking if I wanted to join them at a climbing gym nearby. I hardly ever get in upper body workouts and had been wanting to try climbing for awhile, so I figured why not?

Tank top: Under Armour [exact]

Sports bra: GapFit [similar]

Pants: Under Armour [exact]

Running Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

I found this sports bra at the Gap Factory Outlet last weekend, and I love it! It is reminiscent of Lululemon's Energy bra, but at about a fifth of the price. I particularly loved how it looked with the backless tank top I wore. These pants are also part of my latest Under Armour haul. The fit was fantastic! They're very compressive and completely opaque. Even when I was crawling up these walls with my legs all over the place, they stretched well and I didn't have to worry about anyone seeing anything I didn't want them to see. Between these and the C9 pants I shared the other day, I think I've found my new go-to running styles.

Vacation, the Flu and Exercise

As I shared the other day, I started my Christmas vacation very enthusiastic about the prospect of running throughout it. After all, I was headed to sunny Florida! Why wouldn't I want to run in warm weather on the beach?!

Then, the flu decided it needed to take out my family over the holidays. First, my mom got sick. That meant missing virtually all of our family Christmas festivities. However, her fever broke before we headed down to Florida, so she still came along. Next, my sister got sick. She, unfortunately, was at the peak of flu horribleness when we left, so she stayed home. I woke up the morning we got to Florida with those beginning twinges of a sore throat and cough. Through some fanatical tea drinking and 12-hour nights of sleep, though, I was able to get through things with a bit more comfort than my mother or sister!

Sister (left)

Shirt: C9 [similar]

Pants: C9 [similar]

Shoes: Nike [similar]

Me (right)

Long Sleeve Half Zip: Nike [similar]

T-shirt: Gap Fit [exact]

Pants: Yogasmoga [exact]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

So, we did manage to get in one run before the flu struck. Christmas Eve Eve (two days before Christmas) was unseasonably warm in Indianapolis, so we took advantage of that and went for a run while listening to some One Direction (we're both fans and pretty unashamed about that). A few days later, though, my sister was down for the count and had to opt out of our family trip to Florida. My bout with the flu, though, fortunately held off until I was safely ensconced in 75-degree weather.

Sports bra: Lululemon [similar]

Shorts: Lululemon [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

It was KILLING me not to go running in the amazing weather we have been having here in Florida! I've always been told that you shouldn't run if you have both body symptoms and head symptoms (e.g., muscle aches and pains combined with sinus congestion), so I waited until the body symptoms subsided to get my run on. I probably wasn't quite at the point where I should've been running yet, but I took it super easy (walk-running) and relaxed for quite awhile afterwards. Also, I'm not typically the running-with-no-shirt-on type, but I figured it was warm and everyone else on the beach was in bikinis, so why not?

Running in the Rain

I haven't had the opportunity to run in the rain in awhile! As much as I love San Francisco weather, rain isn't something that happens too terribly often (at least in the time I've lived there). So, when it was a little drizzly here in Indianapolis the other morning, I was excited about it.

The first few minutes of my rainy run were great! The rain was refreshing and there was a nice breeze. But after the first mile or so, it just felt crazy humid! On my run back (I did an out-and-back loop), the wind was in my face, which meant my sunglasses were covered in raindrops very quickly. Fortunately, it wasn't a super long run, so I was back and out of the rain before too much longer.

This photo kind of encapsulates how I was feeling about running in the rain after about 10 minutes.

Shirt: Under Armour [exact]

Pants: GapFit [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

Headphones: Skullcandy [similar]

The back of this tank top is my favorite part of it! It just looks like a normal tank top in the front, but turn around and it's has a little bit more personality. I wore my highlighter pink pants because a lot of the roads around here lack sidewalks and have super narrow shoulders, which always makes me a little nervous when running on them. I try to run in neighborhoods with less traffic, but there are still a few areas that leave you no choice but to go on main roads! At least with my bright pants, it's a little easier to spot me!

Tonight's my sister's wedding! Can't wait!

Social Running

Happy Sunday Runday! Although I typically don't run back-to-back days (I like to mix it up with yoga or whatever other active thing catches my eye), Crystal asked if I wanted to run this morning, so I figured I'd go for it.

I used to never enjoy running with other people. I'm not a fast runner, and it always seems like running comes very easily to other people. They always wanted to talk while I was sitting there huffing and puffing trying desperately to keep up with them. It really wasn't until I started running with Crystal that I genuinely enjoyed it. It's a different kind of running. It's social running.

What I get out of a run with a friend is totally different than a solo run. My solo runs are exercises in mental strength, mainly. It's all about how hard I can push myself and conquer all those negative thoughts in my mind. With a friend, it sometimes is about getting out there despite not wanting to run, and sometimes, it's a way to up the pace or change up the route. Running with friends makes me more comfortable with trying new things, whereas running solo is about challenging myself on the turf I'm already familiar with.

Shirt: GapFit [exact]

Shorts: Lululemon [exact]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

There's just something about a cloudy day that makes me want to wear bright colors! I love these T-shirts from GapFit...the material is just wonderful. It's nice both for daytime wear and workout wear. They are a big clingy, though, so you may want to size up if you're not comfortable with that! My new running shoes are starting to get broken in, too, so I'm pretty happy about that. I always feel weird running in brand new, spotless shoes!

Adding Some Color to a Cloudy Day

It's a pretty gloomy weekend so far here in SF. It's hot (relatively speaking), humid (again, relatively speaking) and there's no sunshine to speak of...the fog is lingering even during the day. It's kind of nice, though, because I never feel as bad spending a weekend being lazy when it's not particularly nice outside. I thoroughly enjoyed my morning of Netflix and coffee!

By mid-afternoon, though, it was run time. I was a little sore after Thursday's run with Crystal (it's amazing that you can lose so much in just two weeks away!), so I decided to do my 5k loop again. This time, I managed to push myself a bit harder. My speed was back up to normal times, but I was definitely a lot more tired than normal when I hit that 3.5-mile mark. Oh well...just incentive to keep at it!

Shirt: C9 [similar]

Pants: GapFit [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

With it being so glum outside, I figured I'd brighten up my run with some fun colors. These pants are some of my favorite pants I own...they fit perfectly! I wish Gap still made their crop pants like this but, alas, they've switched from diamond gusset to triangle gusset and the triangle just doesn't work for me. 

I've been pretty good food-wise today. I had a nice strawberry yogurt parfait for breakfast, which was a nice change from my usual weekend splurges. I made a buffalo chicken sandwich for lunch that I went a little overboard on, but I'm not planning on having a large dinner to counterbalance that. How's everyone else's weekend going so far?