Regalia: 5 Reasons why Road Runner Sports makes bad running tank tops

To: Road Runner Sports, you know I love you and I try to be loyal... but I guess nobody is perfect.


The Women's RRS Running Tank was possibly stitched with evilness and pressed with irritation. Usually, I stray away from bad reviews, but I have given these tank tops months of second chances, and I tried many different combinations of shorts and sport bras to see if things would get better. They didn't. I'd hate for any of you to waist your money, so I've provided you with a few reasons why you should avoid these tanks.


1. It rides up, and I mean all the way up. After months of looking like an athletic stripper, I have now started tucking them in, which is obviously super hip.


2. It encourages armpit chafing ...I know, gross.


3. The stitching comes undone. This may seem like a small concern, but when I pay for high quality work out gear, I expect to get it.  If I wanted to, I could run in old gym shirts but I like athletic gear, so I buy it expecting the best. I don't want my stuff looking like it belongs on orphan Annie.


4. It's hot. And I live in Phoenix, Arizona, so that is a major problem. True, it is a tank top, but it doesn't have the breathability that many of my running clothing has. It literally starts to feel like a sweater vest.


5. It's made in Thailand. And we all know that's bad. But in case you don't know, women make up 90% of the factories in Thailand where they are treated horribly, put in danger, work horrible hours and pretty much taken advantage of in all accounts. So that's bad. And don't even get me started on Nike. Maybe the RRS factory is different?


Honestly, I don't support fair trade as much as I should, and I don't know enough about it as I should, but it's kind of disgusting when you think about it: by buying this tank top I allowed that factory to stay open even longer. Ugh, heebeegeebees.


Toodles for now!

Regalia: Heel insoles

I’m not going to lie, I kind of have a WebMD addiction. The tiniest pain or ailment, and I’m looking it up on the symptom checker and self-diagnosing. I’m assuming my doctor’s hate this. So it was no surprise a few weeks ago when I diagnosed myself with an Achilles heel strain, and came up with a recovery regiment consisting of ice and massage, that I had hit the nail a bit too far from the head.

A few days ago I finally gave into the reoccurring pain, and took myself back to that little chunk of heaven, Road Runner’s Sports. Ah, the smell of rubber soles and moisture wicking sports bras.

After less than five minutes of analysis, I was told that no, I have not strained, hurt or ruptured my Achilles tendon.  I’m just running incorrectly and it’s hurting my lower Soleus muscle (pretty much my calf muscle). Luckily, I was speaking to a storeowner and he had no interest in making commission. He instructed me to take the original insoles that came with my shoes (I bought specialized ones to wear instead) and cut the heels off. Then place the cut up heels under my new insoles in my running shoes. If that doesn’t work, come back. I walked away with a sly smile attempting to imply “you sure do seem cocky about this little magic trick, but you’ll see, I’ll be back.”

Well folks, it worked. The pain is gone. Better yet, since I’m running on my toes more, my calves actually look better! I swear, they’re growing, and I'm a sucker for a big calve muscle. So the Running Regalia feature today is heel insoles. You can buy them, or just cut them out of some old insoles. If you decide to go the cheap route, make sure to use insoles that didn’t get much running action, otherwise they’ll be too worn down. If that doesn’t work, come back and talk to me. 

Regalia: Saucony

I can feel it coming. It's creeping into my mornings, causing the sun to poor into my window earlier than usual.  It's slithering into my car, making the seats hot and the stale air hotter. I think I need to turn on the AC. Most of all, it's jeopardizing my mid-day runs causing me to lose 15 pounds in pure sweat alone. I can feel summer coming, and I'm scared. I love Arizona, I really do, and I am a big fat wimp when it comes to anything below 55 degrees Fahrenheit, but I'm just not ready for triple digit weather. I still have time, plenty of time, but still, I'm anxiously dreading summer's arrival.

It's 80 degrees out, which is beautiful, but it made my run a bit more intense. Actually, I kind of like getting extremely sweaty when I work out. It makes me feel like a real athlete, and it reminds me of summers playing softball. However, post-run, when I slowly wobbled into my bathroom, dripping sweat, and gazed into the mirror, it literally looked like I had changed ethnicity. It looked like my face had darkened three shades. I forgot how easily I tan. Time to buy some sunblock!!


Before I go into the work out summary I'd like to give you a little Running Regalia Review. As I try out new products, I feel it will be fun to share with you what I am getting out of them, how I feel about them, etc. Next time, the review will be in its own separate post. So here it is:


Running Regalia Review


About a week ago I made my first visit to Road Runner Sports. It was heaven. I've waited to share with you my experience there because I wanted to make sure that I was happy with the chosen shoe. I sure am. The Road Runner personnel first put me through their Shoe Dog technology. I walked on and over a exta-special, scientific gate analyzer which took an imprint of my footstep and presented it on the screen. Apparently I pronate inward. Now that I think about it, that makes sense, and that could definitely be contributing to my constant ankle pain. Then, I step on a tread mill and start running. It's confirmed: I DO inwardly pronate. My handy helper Mr. Frank then tests what size shoe I am (my right foot is bigger than my left), and takes me over to the insole area. To make a long story short we went through a series of testing, talking and running until I found a shoe and insole that gave me the perfect (almost) gait.


I finally ended up with the Saucony ProGrid Ride 2 (pictured above). You know you're a runner when you buy the dorkiest looking shoe on the shelf because it fits the best. After a week with my new shoes, I have to say my joints feel a lot better. My ankles don't feel like they are going to cave in the second I start running, and even my overall gait feels faster and smoother. Honestly, I contemplate never taking them off. Every other shoe now feels like it's killing me slowly. But for now I'm still too shallow to stick with running shoes as my daily foot attire.


Saucony is not as well known as may other brands because the company is solely (no pun intended) catering to runners. Their shoes seem a little bit stiffer than the others, but I think that the stiffness makes me run smoother overall. Plus I can already feel them morphing to my feet. I give Saucony three out of three first pumps, and I give Road Runner Sports a spot on my top five favorite stores list. Ya, I know, I tend to get a little too enthusiastic. But hey, the gear is a part of the game (or race)!


Work Out Summary:
Run: 11 minute warm up, 10 minute fartlek, 9 min easy pace.
Drills: Five minutes (I was soo hot by then!)
Strenght: Crunches, pushups, lunges, triceps resistance, calves