Gear review Thursday!

This week for the gear review, I thought I'd venture into a world I'd previously scoffed at - running skirts.  I'm not sure why I never got into the whole skirt thing before, maybe because when I first started running it was couched in some kind of modesty terms, and I'm not someone who felt immodest in shorts or tights, so why did I need a skirt?  I did finally get a skirt when I ran the Skirt Chaser 5k, sponsored by Skirt Sports, but I was much less than impressed.  I got the skirt with my registration, and as far as I can tell, it's one of these Kick Start skirts, which, cute as it is, fit really oddly.  I had to exchange my size medium for a small on race day, and given that I probably weighed about 10lbs more than I do now, there's no way that skirt fits me.  I found the shorts didn't stay put, the waist was odd, it was just not a good fit for me.  So I swore off skirts.

However, I am in need of some warm weather bottoms, since I dropped a bit more weight and the stuff that fit me last summer isn't fitting quite as well right now (liner creep, ick), so when lululemon uploaded some SUPER cute running skirts last week, I bit the bullet and ordered two.  So this week I'm going to give you a comprehensive review of the Run: Pace Setter skirt.  Unfortunately, these sold out wicked fast from the website, but if you live near a lululemon store, you could probably still find one there.  They're pretty similar to the Run: Speed skirt, which also sold out wicked fast online, but I believe the rise is higher, and there are two tiers of ruffles in the back, rather than one.  With a warm 45 degree morning, I set out to do 5 miles of speedwork in my new snazzy skirt, and see how it performed.  To get a sense of sizing, I'm 5'7" and 135lbs.  I take a size 2 pants in most places, and I ordered this in a 4 from lululemon.  I would say this fits true to size as related to other lululemon items.

 First off, there is no denying how freaking adorable this skirt is.  I felt CUTE when I put it on, and while obviously looking cute isn't necessary in order to run, it definitely helps when you're tired and getting up in the early AM to head out there.

As you can see, it's a regular A line skirt in the front, but it's got two tiers of ruffles in the back.  This means you've got a nice full range of motion and you don't need to have any vents on the sides or anything.  I didn't find this rode up in the front at all during my run.  It's got a nice wide waistband, too, which helps to eliminate any muffin top that might potentially be an issue.  It also stayed put well and I didn't have to hitch it up at all.  There IS a drawstring if you find yourself between sizes and want to go with the larger one, but the drawstring on the black skirt is hard to undo when it's wet and sweaty (I've learned from experience from other items), so I'd try to avoid using it, or cut it to make it easier to tie and untie - it's a continuous drawstring the way it comes.

You can see that it's also a  bit longer in the back than in the front.  That's good because this baby is SHORT.  From middle top of the waistband to the hem in front, it measures 11.25", and 12.25" long in the back, again from middle top of the waistband to the hem. I didn't get a great picture of where they hit me, but I would say they're kind of a medium rise, sitting right above the hip bones, but still below the belly button. If you are not a fan of short skirts or shorts, this might not be the skirt for you.  I kind of can't picture doing a lot of running around town in this one, but it would probably be fine, since short shorts are pretty acceptable nowadays.  

 As for what's underneath, you can see that there are pretty short shorts underneath (3.25" from the middle seam to the hem, so in practice they're probably closer to 2.75" when you have them on).  Lululemon doesn't call them compression shorts, which is good because they're really not.  I actually think I'd like them a bit better if they WERE compression shorts, but they get the job done.  They've got some sticky plasticky rubber stuff along the hem to keep them in place, and I'll admit, I was pretty skeptical that it would work to keep them in place.  They seemed to him me in a really odd place, right where my thighs are widest, but they didn't really bother me at all when I ran in them.  If your thighs touch when you run, you might want to take a few laps around the store (at a real jog, not just a bouncing up and down motion) to see if they're going to make you chafe.  A little Body Glide, and perhaps hitching the shorts up or down might help.  I found they pretty much stayed put, and like I said, I was pleasantly surprised.

 For a little skirt, there are actually a fair number of pockets.  Lululemon has been putting two front pockets and one zippered back pocket on their Run: Speed shorts and Run: Energy shorts, and they've done the same here.  The front pockets are at the top of the waistband, between the layers of fabric, and though they're not zippered or secured shut, they're fairly large and I've never had a key bounce out of them or anything.  They're a nice size for a Gu or something similar, and I've even tucked my iPod Nano into one in a pinch.  The back zippered pocket is actually the perfect size for my iPod Nano (I've got one of the longer skinny ones, third generation, maybe?), but since the top I had on had a nice big zippered pocket in the back, I put my keys in the zippered pocket on the shorts today.

  Overall, I was pretty tickled with this skirt and definitely think this was a good purchase.  If the weather holds up, I'm considering wearing one for the 15 mile race I've got coming up next weekend.  I *did* find that there were a few fit differences between the two skirts that I got - one in black, one in lilac snow.  The lilac one seemed a bit higher in the rise, the fabric stiffer, and the shorts stretchier.  Overall I like the fit of the black one  better, but that's pretty typical for Lululemon - the black fabric they use for the Run: Speed shorts, etc, is pretty much perfect, the fabric they use for the colored and patterned ones, a bit less so.