Am I a Runner?

So I stopped in a "local running store" today.

I was kindly greeted at the door.  "Hi, Can I help you?"

"Yes, do you happen to have the New Balance Minimus Road" shoe yet?

"Yes, we just got it in, would you like to try it on?"

"I certainly would, thank you."

"Okay, let's measure your feet.  So- Are you a runner?"

This is where the shopping trip turned complicated.  You see I started running (slowly) in September, but don't really consider myself a runner- I feel like I haven't earned it or something.  Yet, here I was in a "local running store" asking by make and model of a shoe that is supposedly not even being released for another 10 days.  Kinda SEEMS like that may qualify me to at least be a "runner- wanna-be" or something?




...I bought the shoes.

yeah... that's it!.."performance wool for the active"

New logo!... things are coming together piece at a time.

Watch for the Etsy site to open later next week.  Featured there will eventually be:

running jackets

earbands

hats

mittens

armwarners

....and maybe even some wool running tights!

You can be warm- thanks to Ewes

Ewe:  a female sheep.  They grow wool.  Wool is AMAZING!  If you don't get warm and fuzzy feelings when you think about wool then you need to forget all your bad experiences with it and give it a fresh start.

Yes, there is wool that is scratchy and stiff.  Some people think they are allergic to it, very few actually are, the problem is that the scratchy stiff stuff has given the whole wool family a bad rep.  So unfair.

Wool is the ORIGINAL performance fabric.  Fleece?  Folks- fleece is polyester... the same polyester that we made fun of in the '80s.  Polyester manufacturers got smart and reinvented it in to high profiting "performance fabric" by creating that soft nap on one side that "wicks moisture".  Sure it works, but it's still polyester and people are paying a crazy amount of money for it.

Wool has always had performance qualities- it comes by it naturally:

• It is water resistant- it can absorb up to 30% of it's weight without feeling wet or damp
• It is thermal- which doesn't just mean it is warm.   It actually allows your body to maintain it's proper temperature- warming you if needed and allowing you to cool if needed.  
• It it easy to clean- wool contains lanolin which resists dirt.  Dirt will easily brush off of wool items.
• It is antibacterial- that same lanolin keeps it from absorbing body odors
• It doesn't get static build up- seriously- can we say this about fleece?
• It's green!  No hazardous by-products in the manufacturing.

Yep- that's me... head to toe in wool and ready for a run on a 34 degree day.  

It all began one day last September....

... when I decided to join my "running friends" for three miles.  This may sound innocent enough, except that I had never run three miles before- and didn't make the whole three miles that day either.  Nonetheless, I committed to run a 5K with them in April.  The next week found me running again and again and again and actually beginning to like love it!  (So much that I then committed to a 190 mile relay in May!)

Things were going along just wonderfully until... December 26th- the snow started falling in Connecticut- and it hasn't stopped yet.  Some how I decided to become a runner in Connecticut's "snowiest winter in history"!

This whole snow and wet roads thing wasn't working for me.  Despite following all the advice (wool socks- check) my feet were often numb from the cold.

I am a seamstress and wanna-be designer at heart and had been working with felted wool for a couple of years, my creative juices started flowing.  There must be a way to stay warm enough to enjoy running this winter!

After a few revisions and some trial runs from those running friends the ShoeSweater was born.  Read on for more details on how it works and how you can get  YOUR feet warmed up this winter.