I have so many things I want to share, this is what happens when I fail to post in a while. For my failings I will mention a few things that are at the forefront of my mind. One, the laundry. What does this have to do with running, well I'm not totally sure yet, but it may have something to do with running, give me a minute
The other day, I was down in the basement throwing close into the washer and was overwhelmed by the amount of pink stuff. Pink shirts, pink leggings, pink dress, pink socks, pink little girl panties. What is with this proliferation of pink and I thought I did a pretty good job of purposefully buying clothes that were not pink because I hate marketing that is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator by gender: pink for girls, blue for boys. I can't tell you how many terse emails I have sent to companies about there ridiculous marketing as if women are so one dimensional. But, yet, here I am looking at this incredible showing of pink my kids have been drawn to: where have I failed them! I should try harder at brainwashing them while they sleep. Frustrating. Anybody else have this experience with pink?
Not terribly long ago, I bought some new earbuds, the worst ones actually, and I wrote that company too to let them know that their earbuds sucked. Yurbuds, remember that for when you are in the market for new ones, pass these by, because they are no good. But at any rate, I purchased these after my daughter broke my last pair (so annoyed...even getting annoyed just thinking about it now). But, I bought some Yurbuds earbuds for women. Oh, the marketing specifically to women was maddening, but the package said guaranteed to never fall out, sweat proof and designed for smaller ears. Well, I had had problems with earbuds falling out and I do wear them for running and they do get sweaty, so the package said all the right things, so I bought them. Here's the real kicker: they were sold in purple and hot pink. Colors women are naturally drawn to, right? Lowest common denominator. I bought them and the clerk at Target even said something: "how are these just for women?" Good question. I am buying them for the guarantee and if they don't live up to their promise, I am returning them for a full refund and I will write them a nasty note to boot (because that's the kind of consumer I am). Well, after a couple of times wearing them while running, and being sweaty, they did fall out and I spent a lot of time adjusting them and that was really annoying. I like to be able to put the earbuds in and forget about it during the course of my run. But, I wasn't able to do that with these. I think one side stayed in moderately well, but it seemed to be teetering on falling out, but managed to hang in there for several miles without falling. The other side, I ended up tucking into my bra because it kept falling out and I couldn't deal with it any longer. Shortly thereafter they were returned to Target for a full refund and an email sent to Yurbuds. Do you think I got a response back from Yurbuds?? Noo. Jerks. Even when I've emailed Under Armour before about the quality of their compression tights, they emailed me back. So disappointed about Yurbuds. My favorite earbuds: Klipsch. They rock! Everybody should get some of those. I don't know about the Beats earbuds, but until I try those (for a small fee), I will recommend, and recommend highly Klipsch earbuds.
Now, back to the laundry. I got a new winter running pull-over by Brooks and I've worn it a couple of times. I put it on the other day to go for a run as it was bitter cold and I was not feeling good. Not to self: don't go unless you are 100% certain that you are feeling 100%. My stomach was hurting a bit and 3 plus miles away I thought I was going to throw-up. My pullover however, was smelling funny. I found myself wondering: what is that smell an then pausing to do an underarm sniff test. Holy moly! That's me, ewww, I smell like onions. Aaagh. So weird, I barely sweat when I run, but my goodness does my shirt smell. Oh well. Just keep running, just keep running (think: Finding Nemo). Besides, I figured if I just kept running faster, my stomach might feel better (or at least i'd be home sooner). By the time I got home, I didn't have a lot of time to change clothes (and I didn't throw up: bonus!), because it was about that time to pick up the little one. I'll just put on my jacket. Then after getting her, we'll go get her sister, keep the jacket on, stay in the car. Perfecto. Now at this point, several hours post run, it's just easier once we get home to keep the running pullover on, you know, the path of least resistance. But, as we are playing a game, I get another wiff of myself: oy vey! It's important to share this with my kids. "Hey, Eytan, get a wiff of this" Eeeew, Mommy, you smell like Barni (the dog). Then, not wanting to feel left out, Ayelet says 'mommy, let me smell' Well, why would I leave her out? It was my duty to allow her to partake in the under armor festivities. So, I get her nose all up in there. "oooh, grosss out" Then, I think back on the days of yore, when I used to work at an overpriced yoga wear store that put silver in their tops to prevent stink; that seemed genius right about now. Unable to withstand my own funk any longer, I popped something on Netflix for the girls and went to take a shower so I could stand the smell of me again an wash the smell off that shirt. And later, it would give me an opportunity to write Brooks about their horribly placed pocket on that pullover that takes me a good 3 minutes just to get my phone in and zip up. Precious time that I am losing because my time keeper has already started tracking my pace 2 minutes and 50 seconds ago. Again, once I figure out which style of Brooks pullover I have I will email Brooks (don't get me wrong, I love my pullover, it's warm it does all I need it to do an its electric blue, not pink so it is really great. It's just this pocket is located in such a horrible spot for me to put my phone an use it, drives me nuts). And that pullover happens to be in the laundry. See how these things come full circle. There is a point to my madness.
