Allergic to Running

I am allergic to running.

No, for real, I legit am allergic.  If I do anything more than a leisurely stroll, I will start to break out in hives on my legs, waist and back.  I have always been this way, but I very specifically remembering it becoming a problem when I was in sixth grade during gym class.  I spent many afternoons in the nurses office trying to tell them how bad it was but they just thought I was trying to get out of class.

Over the years I have made half hearted attempts to start running on the regular.  Every single time though the same thing happens.  I get to a point, usually five-six minutes in where I start to get a tiny itch in my legs.  Then I start to feel my waist twitching.  Then my legs start to swell, I will look down and they are huge and red.  I get to a point I have to make a choice, try and ignore the itching that is bone deep or scratch.

I always try to ignore it but then I will, no joke, start to have a panic attack from the itching.  I know that sounds CRAZY, and y'all I might just be, but this type of itch is a special mental and physical torture.  I wish it seemed reasonable, but it isn't in the least bit.

Yesterday, I tried to do C25K.  I made it my first mile before I was on the curb with Baby in front of me in the jogging stroller watching me claw at my legs, trying to literally not pass out from itching.  While doing so, I destroyed my legs.  (Please ignore the fact that my legs look like they have been amputated.  Also-I can make that joke since my dad really did have that happen.)

Each one of those lines today are where I scratched so deep, I have a blood line going up and down my leg.  Sexy.

Mentally, I want so badly to be a runner.  I want to be able to just put shoes on and go.  I want to be alone with my thoughts.  I just don't think it is in my cards.  I have had semi success with taking antihistamines prior to running so I am going to experiment with that the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime though, I'll just continue to tell people I am allergic to running and be told, "Sure....just like I am allergic to work" (or paying bills/homework/yard work or whatever other activity they deem not enjoyable).

Not Baby's Jeans

Last night my friend Steff and I went to NYDJ (formally Not Your Daughter's Jeans) Spring preview event at The Joule hotel in Dallas.  I love these events, not only are filled with wine and sweets but I have the opportunity to view products under most normal circumstances I wouldn't really pay a second glance to them.

NYDJ is exactly one of those brands.  Prior to this preview, I knew them as Not Your Daughter's Jeans.  I think my mom has a pair and I know they sell them in some of the higher up department stores (I know that I have seen them before in Nordstrom).  I never considered them a brand for me, because bluntly-I still thought of them as "mom" jeans.  A la SNL commercial for Mom Jeans.

But here is the thing.  I am a mom.  So technically, any jeans I wear I guess you could consider them mom jeans.  After having a baby, your body changes.  Regardless of if you lose all the baby weight things are just different.  I actually have hips though admittedly not much, which I consider a blessing but most woman gets just a bit...wider.  There are some moms out there that you could never physically tell they grew another human being inside them, but they tend to have a much higher discipline than I will ever have.

Back to the preview-Steff and I had the chance to try out several styles and some of their upcoming tops collection.  I immediately picked out a pair that one of the hosts was wearing because she looked so darn cute but they were not for me.  I might have been admiring her skinny waist but they just went way too high on mine and overall the fit just didn't work.  I don't blame the jeans though, I blame the woman.

I tried on a pair of black jeans though and immediately loved them.  Two bonuses about these-they came in petite so my barely over five feet (lazy) self doesn't have to have them altered and they have something called Lift and Tuck technology.  Ok, at first I thought this was a gimmick or sales pitch but these jeans honestly were are the first ones where my lower belly (or the ever so sexy muffin top) was flat and I have a slightly round butt.  Consider me sold.

I also tried out one of their tops, a simple drape top that I felt really great in.  It is versatile enough that I am going to be able to wear it to work or something those childless people call date nights.  I also feel like this is going to be one of those shirts that I throw on when running errands so I can look somewhat put together without the effort.

NYDJ did send me home with my favorite picks of the evening, but my opinions are my own.  They didn't ask me to write about them, but after yesterday-I just want women, and even the non moms, out there to not automatically pass the brand by because you might be pleasantly surprised.