Stuff I Like - January Edition
‘winter’ running necessities
I woke up this morning with a broken brain. At a time when I need it the most, it’s simply refusing to operate. Blame the hormones as I’m on day 2 of my period which also translates (for those of you here without uteruses) to the day in which all I want to do is curl up under the covers and netflix myself into an oblivion.
Since that’s not exactly an option, I attempted to chase the cobwebs away with a nice healthy dose of endorphins, vitamin D and a second latte. Spoiler alert none of these things worked and while I’d still rather be a netflix vegetable, here we are. A hot shower, some real clothes, a little chocolate and we’re now functioning at about 60% which I’m sure will be more like 90% at 9pm when I actually would prefer to just go to bed.
Such is life and the wonders of the female reproductive system and as much as I’d love to wax poetic about the good, the bad and the ugly of it all we have far more urgent things to discuss : winter running. Now I understand my Northern Californian winter looks far different than say, a winter in Northern Michigan so roll your eyes if you must at my complaints, but cold is cold and it’s also relative. I’m not going to claim that my blood has thinned because I live in a warmer climate because I don’t live in Hawaii; I live in San Francisco, where it gets neither warm nor cold and the truth is I’ve just become accustomed to 45 degrees feeling cold AF now in the same way 85 degrees makes me never want to see the sun again. JK on the last part as I am and will always be Team Summer but you get the drift.
While I’m still running with my legs bare, I have decided it might be nice to actually own a pair of pants or tights I could run in say, if one morning I wanted to run with Dougie and then go meet up with a friend at the Academy of Sciences without having to worry about changing in the back of the car. Which happens to be the very specific thing that occurred last week on a very, very cold morning. A big one fingered salute (I’ll let you guess which finger) to the man on a scooter who told me that ‘I looked cold’ mid run while stopped at a light. Oh the things men think they have permission to say to women when they see them running. Also deserving of a post all to its own one day but again, we’re here to talk about winter running attire and not about why men think they have permission to say things no one wants to hear.
Even back when I used to run in places where it truly got cold in the winter (or used to travel back to Michigan during the month of December) I’ve always preferred a layered approach to outfitting. I tend to run hot (no pun intended) so being able to take off a sweatshirt or roll up my sleeves are all key as I will inevitably start to overheat and also because I hate that first mile of being cold more than I hate being too hot I will more often than not be just a smidge overdressed. The two mornings in which I wore the above outfits (one of which was this morning when I dressed dark to match my mood) it was about 54 degrees and sunny outside. Did I get warm? yes. Too warm? not really. Was I wearing the same long sleeve shirt I wore to bed the night before? absolutely.
The Perfect Long Sleeve
Perfect is an unrealistic expectation but what I like in a long sleeve is a natural fiber blend. Bonus points if it’s a long sleeve I can wear when I’m not running too. Remember my love of the J.Crew front racer from this summer? I’ve been on a quest to find the long sleeve version of this. One offered in a modern fit that doesn’t scream ‘I’m a performance top!’ that I can wear with shorts or tights and also under a sweater or on its own with some jeans. Unfortunately for me and for you this top doesn’t exist. Fortunately for me and for you some day when I’m designing my own run product for Wylder it will, and luckily there are some ‘these aren’t too bad’ options that can get us all by until then.
i used to always run in seamless long sleeves but stopped last year i think because i just didn’t like the fit anymore and was craving something a bit more universal. left to right : me in austin back in november heading out for a group run at 7am in 40 degree weather. I added gloves and was dressed perfectly fine in my cotton J.Crew long sleeve tee / J.Crew Perfect Fit LS Tee / saysky merino LS tee / Tracksmith merino Harrier LS A Winter Appropriate Tight
My general rule for dressing (back when I lived in a colder climate) was anything below 40 degrees was tights weather. Anything below like, 30 degrees (especially if there was a wind chill to consider) was winterized tights weather. And by ‘winterized’ I mean something where the interior of the fabric has a subtle brushed back to it so that it just doesn’t feel quite so cold on the skin. A thin nylon tight in 20 degree weather with a wind chill basically feels naked and you might as well just be wearing shorts. However, in SF I rarely ever will reach for a tight over a short (unless it’s a short tight) and for me this is really about versatility so I don’t roll up half naked to shop Whole Foods in the middle of winter. (I would like to go on record stating I have absolutely no qualms about shopping half naked at Whole Foods any other time of the year, I just prefer not to experience the chill of the freezer aisle sans pants in January.)
a few contenders *should* i decide the versatility needs of a tight warrant a purchase. left to right : ok i actually did purchase these ganni sport tights in a different print that was very much on sale because how great would it be to sell ganni in wylder some day and also how cute is this tank? the least functional of the group although they do feature a back pocket that fingers crossed will fit a phone / lululemon fast and free tight / ON movement tights designed for yoga but i like the color as much as i like wearing inappropriate tights for running / tracksmith session tights. // 2 great heavier weight brushed options for those of you poor souls in frigid climates : ON performance winter run tights + bandit softspeed cold weather run tight The Versatility of a Fleece Popover
I’m not a super technical run clothing type person and I absolutely love running in a sweatshirt if and when it ever gets cold enough. Despite only having had a handful of these mornings in SF, I’ll still quite often start with a sweatshirt thrown on over a t-shirt or tank and de-layer as I warm up even in the summer during our foggy season. I love vintage fleece for this because a) it’s thinner so not as annoying to tie around my waist and b) it just looks cool, because I am a vain runner who likes to above all look cool while running. While I wouldn’t recommend wearing a fleece crew if it’s like 15 degrees with a wind chill and snowing because there is a time and a place for really serious bells and whistles winter run gear but 40 degrees and sunny? c’est la vie!
my ultimate dream would be a fine gauge merino wool crewneck for running which doesn’t exist but maybe someday might? in the meantime left to right : a vintage fleece I’ve had forever that has been on many, many runs / the great college sweatshirt / vintage snoopy (bc who doesn’t love snoopy and who doesn’t love life?) / left on friday sports + rec crew (a little harder to tie around the waist bc the sleeves are cropped but the fabric is light and the silhouette is loose and i still love running in it / madewell hoodie. Accessories!
Accessories are your friend in the winter and also an excellent way to fake it till you make it and look like one fantastically badass runner. Nothing makes me feel more hardcore in the best way than when I’m wearing gloves with shorts. It’s like ‘look at me throwing caution to the wind while also admitting my hands are f*cking freezing.’ I also love a beanie and t-shirt moment for the same reason. Like the polar bear swim equivalent of run attire? Or would that be wearing a sports bra for a race in 40 degree weather…I digress but anyway, accessories are a fantastic way to keep warm during the early portion of a run that can then be stripped off and stashed or carried (they’re small!) for the remaining part of the run when they’re no longer needed. Also a shout out here for the magic of arm warmers - a fantastic alternative to a long sleeve that I actually used to wear religiously before switching to full long sleeves this year. Not sure why I switched over to full sleeves exactly other than it just sort of feels nice to pair a long sleeve tee with shorts right now?
colorful standard merino wool beanie / ON running merino wool beanie / bandit merino wool beanie / lululemon fast + free gloves (i own a much older version of these and love them) / ornot merino gloves (this is a cycling brand but i think these would be great for running!) / smartwool run gloves / pas normal escapism knit arm warmers (also a cycling brand, also great for running!) / tracksmith brighton merino blend armwarmers
So there you have it, a list of winter run gear perfectly suited to the cold but not-so-cold winter we’re currently experiencing in Northern California. Now I realize this is a female-centric list of items (as it should be, being a Stuff I Like List as I identify as female) however for those of you non-female identifying peeps reading this I’d love to hear what your go-tos are for your cold weather needs! And I mean it, please comment or email me as I’d love to take advantage of all the free crowdsourcing I can for the future assortment I’ll be selling in the IRL Running Wylder store.
Hope you’re all staying toasty and dreaming of warmer days to come,
*k