Uni-T tank review

I was given a chance to review a shirt from a shop on Etsy called myuni-T, after browsing the selection, and there were a lot of neat inspiring shirts, I finally narrowed it down to this shirt.

sorry for the cheesy grin, I seemed completely incapable of taking a normal picture. Really there were worse ones. I think it is the result of all the time I have spent NOT running in the last three weeks.

I love the yellow color (I of course think that it goes great with my red hair) and for some reason I fell in love with this owl.  I think it reminds me of something my mom used to have hanging on the wall when I was growing up.

Uni-T is owned by Eujin Kim Neilan who is also an illustrator for children's books and magazines.  Her art work is amazing, some of it is shown on her Etsy site also. 

Here is some of what she has to say about Uni-T

Uni-T sounds like unity!
Unity is the basic philosophy of my line of hand-printed t-shirts. As a creative business, Uni-T cherishes art, music, health, a green environment, local farming, learning, and most of all happiness in one's life. Our interest and passion might be different but we are all in unity! My t-shirts are about being yourself and inspiring each other.

She started selling the shirts at local farmer's markets and flea markets and now owns her own boutique in a suburb of Boston. 

Here is a sampling if what some of her other shirts look like.

See the ones with the dragon?  They say dare more.  I almost went with one of those.  Other shirts say things like Dream more, dance more, walk more.  Besides tanks there are also short sleeve, long sleeve, and hoodies. 
Better yet check them out her shop HERE
The shirts are made out of a super comfy and eco-friendly bamboo and organic cotton blend. I ordered a size small and would say it is pretty true to size. This will make a great shirt to wear this summer.  I have worked out in it, lounged in it and even worn it to bed a few times.  Super comfy.



see another cheesy one

look my hair was even combed! no pony tail!

You can also find Uni-T on Facebook HERE

If you decide to order a shirt for yourself or a gift for a friend, Eujin was awesome and offered free shipping with the code 4FREESHIPPING when you check out.

Tell me you don't love this owl shirt. 
Do you shop much on Etsy?  I have started to in the last year, I love the idea of supporting small businesses.

I was given this shirt in exchange for a review. I was in no other way compensated for this post.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Three Things Thursday: Not running, What's Beautiful and kids

1. Let's see what have I been up to...still not running, but surprisingly I have reached some sort of acceptance on that.  I have come to realize the big picture shows that if I rest now I will be running happier sooner.  Trying to push it early was only stagnating and or reversing any healing.  A little frustrating that it happened now when it is so AWESOMELY nice out for running and not when it was wintry cold or later this summer when it is awfully hot.  In the end it is what it is. Truth be told it is kind of nice to take a break from it.  I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to get the runs in, it can be a lot of work finding a babysitter, getting there, etc. 

Not that I will be whining when my leg is ready to run again.

I haven't charged my Garmin or my iPod in over two weeks.  I don't plan to for at least another week.  and maybe even longer as I get back into running.  I don't want to put any pressure on myself to run a certain pace.

2. This week seems to have been crazy busy so far and I haven't been able to update my What's Beautiful page, but I plan to work on that today.  So far I have done 20 of the challenges.  One challenge I have been taking on weekly is the pushup challenge.  I did it this week too, but didn't get it on video.  Last week I did 30 pushups in a row and this week..35.  I love progress.  That's beautiful.

3.  Tomorrow is the last day of kindergarten for my little cowboy.  That went so fast!  I am so proud of him.  He has learned so much and I love all the great things his teacher has had to say about what a nice and polite boy he is.  Makes me feel like I am doing something right.

Hard to believe my little cowgirl will be going to kindergarten in three months. 

Not running sux

Really I am feeling like I should rename my blog domain from christyruns.com to something like

• christyusedtorun.com
• christydoesn'trun.com
• christymissesrunning.com
• christyneedsanewrightquad.com

you get the idea.  I could go on and on. 

I had a good run Friday, and by good I mean slow easy and slow for three point one miles.  Saturday I was feeling pretty good so I ran/walked 5.5 miles with my sister at a faster pace than I should have.  Afterwards my right quad yelled at me the rest of the day. 

So Sunday I did not run.  Today I did not run.  I did do yoga.  and some more yoga.  This is how I feel about that.

When I first was injured and I started in on the yoga, I hated it.  Too slow. Too boring.

I am slowly learning to appreciate it.  I am learning that I am as stiff and inflexible as I have ever been, especially in my hips and hammies.
 I am learning to enjoy the feeling of my muscles stretching and oddly enjoying the slow relaxed pace.

It has been a long time since I have slowed down.  I am thinking of taking off the rest of the month from running.  Not a happy thought, but if I want to get better...AND I DO!  I think I really need to  not run.

It is making me crazy. I see a road and I can feel me running down it.  I can see me on the road, one foot in front of the other, breathing in the clean fresh air and hearing my foot steps on the gravel.  I am at this point planning to cancel all races until at least July, possibly August.

The frustrating thing about this is, I can feel so good sitting here, just a slight burning in my quad, but as soon as I start running it just gets uncomfortable.  Not really painful, just not good in a way that I KNOW that if I keep running, keep pushing, I am going to regret it. 

Okay well enough of the wa wa wa story. 

Positives are..working on flexibility, taking up yoga, and more time to clean the house.  I tried a little retail therapy.  I was looking for something nice to wear to a wedding this weekend.  Apparently I no longer have those kind of skills.  I can shop for running things like nobody's business, but something dressy..I didn't try a single thing on, and I went to about 10 different stores in the mall.  Aack!

When the cat's away

As most of you know I work in the operating room at a surgery center.  I like to have my phone with me, but not neccesarily in my pocket so I usually leave it by my computer.  Nothing ever happens to it ever.  Until yesterday, at work when my sweet friends took it upon themselves to change my screensaver while I was off getting a patient.

I nearly dropped my phone and I may have shouted out something.  I did not however learn. Next time they were sweet enough to tell me I am number one. It was unanimous they all agreed!

after that I was a little more careful about leaving my phone in the room when I went out.  Although I did leave once without it and then ran back to get it, just in time.  They were all headed for it.  I seriously love my coworkers.  We have so much fun and we work too. 

As soon as I got home from work Friday I headed out into the rain for an easy 3.1 miles.  It felt heavenly!  You can't really tell from this photo, but I am soaked.  There were better pictures really, but this was the only one with Cola photobombing in the background.

Today my little sister and I went for what will probably be our last run together for a LONG LONG time.  She is leaving to move to Virginia next Saturday.  We did an easy run/walk for 5.5 miles.

My right quad is SLOWLY getting better.  Patience is a virtue I am lacking. 

I did do yoga twice this week and plan to do some more today.  What I am learning through all this yoga is that I am about as flexible as an old man. When did that happen?  I used to be really limber!

 

Three Things Thursday: Short and Sweet

1. Stir crazy, that is how I feel right now.  In the last 10 days I have ran 4 miles.  I did two of those yesterday.  I am trying to remind myself of the big picture and scaring myself by imagining never runner again usually helps.    The two miles felt good and I considered going 4, but in the end decided I better just take it easy.  which in my book equals boring when I am doing it day after day!

2. Okay, lets get away from running talk.  I have been doing the Under Armour What's Beautiful (I am sponsored by Under Armour for this competition)  and found this page which has great videos of some awesome training moves like walking planks, pistols, pushup jacks and so many more moves that I love and want to try. So if you are looking for a challenge, new moves etc I say check it out! 

3. Sometimes I can't help myself.  I see new flavors of Chapstick I have never tried before and I have to have them.  Cotton candy Chapstick!!  Yum, it was in a three pack with grape and fruit punch.  Grape is also yum, fruit punch is so so.  I always have loved the mint and strawberry.

 The strawberry reminds me of being a kid and the plain reminds me of my Dad since he always seemed to have it in his pocked when I was growing up.  Not so long ago I also won these two awesome flavors from Kiley, plus apple.

My husband really liked the apple and I ended up buying more in a three pack. I think I have 6 Chapsticks in my purse right now and several in my makeup bag.  YUM.  Not a sponsored post I just noticed I had a lot of Chapstick and since I am not running I don't have much to talk about. 

Some postive things and some wallowing.

So I have been trying to see the upside to my quad strain...like how good the rest is for all my muscles and tendons and ligaments that I work hard year round with running and training.

 A runner can no more expect to train progressively year-round than a cornfield can expect to produce corn spring, summer, fall and winter. source

 I am adding some yoga in which is stretching out my stiff muscles like I haven't in a long time.  Feels good really, even if I am incredibly impatient with all the holding poses and breathing in and out.  I like fast workouts.  I am more of a HIIT type person so all this slow movement is a little bit of torture really.

I have been working on my pushups.  One of the What's Beautiful challenges is how many pushups can you do without stopping.  Last week I did 25 and this week 30.  Boom!  and I did 30 twice BOOM BOOM! with 5 minutes rest in between.  If you want to see the video it is on my profile page.

The What's Beautiful campaign has been very inspiring and a fun way to connect with even more fitness minded people.  I got into it because of Fitfluential and being sponsored by Under Armour through Fitfluential, but now that I am doing it I wish I would have started it sooner.  It is a competition, but it is also fun. There are a lot of neat challenges. I have been going out of my comfort zone a bit and I think that is awesome.

Today I am going to get reacquainted with the pull up bar in my kitchen doorway.  I learned about kipping pull ups so I might have to go outside and see if I can pull off some of those.  I don't think my doorway pull up bar will be able to handle them without dumping me on the floor.

I did also exercise on my elliptical yesterday for 15 minute intervals at a super easy level.  Boring and not at all the sweatfest I needed.

Injuries suck, they cause doubt to creep in.  Will I ever be able to run again, how long will it take to get back to where I was and will I just get reinjured right away.  Ugh.  Am I crippled for life? (yes I know I am not really, but I am feeling discouraged right now).

Having a quad strain increases the chances of having another one.  What does this mean?  I can't do any sprinting right now or jumping, lunges etc, anything that involves heavy quad stress.  Will I be able to in the future with the same amount on abandon I always have in the past?

It is getting better, just slowly.  It doesn't hurt right now it just doesn't feel right.  Things aren't normal.  I want to have that feeling of running for miles and miles and losing myself in the run.  I want to feel fast and powerful.  I want to love the run. 

It is so hard when it is your own body that is letting you down.  Your own body that has done such amazing feats of strength and endurance and let you push it so hard.  So hard I hurt it. and then I didn't listen so here I am.

AfterShokz Sportz M2 Headphones Review

When I was offered the chance to try out AfterShokz Sportz M2 headphones I was a little skeptical, but agreed to try them out.  I am not much of a tech type person and am generally happy with my the ear buds my iPod came with.  I usually run with one earbud in and the other one tucked into my bra so I can hear what is going on around me at least a little bit.

so what is AfterShokz claim to fame and uniqueness?

• They use bone conduction technology.  The ear pieces don't actually go in your ears, they go in front of them.  This leaves your ears open to hearing things like cars approaching, people talking, birds singing, and my little doggy's footsteps as he runs beside me.  Why is this so great?  SAFETY!
• How Bone Conduction Works
  Most of what we hear is due to sound waves traveling through the air to the eardrum, which then converts the sound waves to vibrations and transmits them to the inner ear. Sound waves can also get to the inner ear through direct vibration of the bones in the head which carry the vibrations directly to the inner ear, bypassing the eardrums. This is how a person hears his or her own voice, ans also how whales hear. This pathway of sound is known as bone conduction

What I really liked about them

• How much I could hear the world around me
• When I use them with my iPhone, I can take and receive calls through the headphones and the mic that is in the controller.
• Very comfortable and easy to forget I had on.  I never had to adjust them. They never fell off.
• Controller is easily clipped to shirt or bra.
• I had entire conversations with people while listening to music on these.
• Comes with an awesome carrying case.
• Works with my iPhone and iPod, and iPad.  I can use it as a hands free device in my car.
• The case they came in.  I also use it to store my iPod and the charging cable for my iPod now. Very handy!

What I didn't like

• Since they operate on a battery (it does last about 12 hours) it means another thing I have to remember to charge up.  So far I have only had it run out of battery on my once, and really that was my fault since I knew I should charge it and neglected to.

In the picture below you can see the controller clipped to my tank.

Side notes

• If you are looking for pristine sound quality this is not for you.  The sound is pretty good, but since it leaves your ears open.
• These retail for 79.95
• If you have the music up loud or put the earphones around your neck others around you can hear it too.  Which may be annoying for some, especially in a race.
• They are water resistant but not water proof, so they aren't good to wear in the rain.

I have been wearing them for about a month and am in love with them.  I listen to a lot of podcasts when I run and the sound quality is great.  I love being able to still hear the birds singing and vehicles approaching.

What the whole thing looks like in case you were curious.

Want to learn more? Check out their website HERE!
What do you think?