Posts Tagged ‘sunglasses’

My history with sunglasses is mostly populated by cheapie pairs acquired at Target.  A couple years ago, however, I did splurge on a pricier pair of shades by Smith Optics.  My reason for spending real dough on them was that they had switchable lenses and I had a bright idea that the clear ones would be useful for pelting rain or snowy days.

Unfortunately, those conditions left me constantly fidding with them due to condensation, my breath fogging them up and making them more annoying than anything, so they’d always end up in my pocket by mile 2 until I eventually gave up and only used them on sunny days.

Still, I liked the darkest lenses quite a bit, never got into the yellow ones (supposed to brighten up a cloudy day, but I love dark days) or the rosey ones which I never did figure out why anyone would bother with.  Anyway, I spent some moolah for a feature I never used, so when I mistakenly left them somewhere at the Carlsbad Half last January, never to be seen again, I didn’t bother to replace them with another fancy pair – I went to Target and got a $19 pair from their Ironman line.  They’re ok glasses though they leave a red mark at the bridge of my nose, dirty up easily and don’t block a lot of sun.  OK, maybe they’re pretty crappy after all.

So when the folks at BTB Sunglasses offered me a pair of their specs, I was super excited.  It’s way more fun to review something you want and use anyway and I was really in need of a better pair of shades.

The thing that’s great about this company is that their glasses are inexpensive ($35-$50) but the quality is equivalent to high-end glasses.  Aside from the fact that I can’t change lenses (which I never did anyway) these are just as good as my $100 Smith Optics.

What I like about the site is that they tell you what size face each style is made for so you’re more likely to get a proper fit right off the bat.  My only complaint is that they should include photos of the glasses straight on, not just at an angle, but that’s my only quibble.

They let me pick the ones I wanted so I chose Model 420 which sell for $34.95 and honestly, I love ‘em!  They block sun well, they’re light, don’t leave a mark on my nose and they have one more thing the other companies don’t…they’re “Ballistic” rated.  If you check out their website, they’ve got an entertaining video of someone shooting the glasses with a shotgun.  In fact, when my glasses arrived, I got a fun little doodad in the box: a necklace with a BTB lens that’s been shot at.  Not sure if that’s standard with every purchase, but it was quite a kooky little trinket.

Not that I expect to get shot in the eye on my runs, especially on a bright, sunny day, but it does speak to the resilience of the lenses.  And you never know…this is Philly after all.

Now here’s something extra nice: The cool cats at BTB gave me the coupon code GIRLN20 so that my readers could get 20% off when ordering, which makes these glasses a super great deal.  So, until next time, happy non-shooting-in-the-eyeball-sunglass-wishes to you and yours.  Happy running!

What a perfect day for Intervals; sunny, 52F, no wind, birds chirping, it was bound to be a lovely session, and aside from squirting myself a couple times due to my take-no-prisoners effort, it was!

Starting with yesterday, Nick and I finally got to the mall to try on my belated Valentines Day present – a fancy pair of running sunglasses. Since mid-February, I’ve been itching to order some online, but due to their high pricetag and my large nose, thought it best to try on before purchasing. Good thing I did! I had been counting on a pair of Oakleys, but they looked terrible on me and didn’t fit well at all. So we left the mall and ended up at EMS for a better selection.

My requirements were removable lenses, polarized and clear. The clear is for windy and rainy days since at my age, I don’t need to encourage more facial lines by squinting. So anyway, tried on a bunch and ended up with some Smith Factors. They look and fit fabulously, the lenses are a snap to change, and they’re a hands-down improvement over my Target Ironman pair, so that was Good Thing #1.

Then today, after my morning coffee (I know, dumb to do it after coffee, but that’s what I do), I checked my Heart Rate and it was 49 for the first time in weeks. Good Thing #2

Strange thing #1, I woke up with the weirdest cramp today, the same kind you get when you run too fast, right below my right ribs, but all I’d been doing before I awoke was dreaming. It wasn’t even a running dream, it was a dirty one…still, that shouldn’t cause a cramp. Anyway, I was worried that it would interfere with my workout since it was there until I left, but once I started running, I forgot all about it. Good Thing #3

On my warmup jog, I passed the museum where my resident construction worker cheerleader guy yelled out from yards away, “You GO, Girl!” Can’t help it, but that’s Good Thing #4 (hey, who doesn’t like a personal cheerleader?)

The interval session went very well. It was my first one in a month due to that sick shit, so I was really nervous about where I’d end up.

If you remember from my last interval report, I had decided to walk between intervals instead of jogging, with a reduced recovery period. But after posting a question about it on the Training forum at RW (because there are so many ways to recover…half the distance, 50-100% the time, HR returns to 120, etc.), I changed my tact, since one of the trustable wise men there, Go Long, made this comment:

“If you are training for maximum speed – then rest between Intervals. If you are training for both speed and increased tolerance for speed [endurance] then jog between Intervals.”

Makes sense to me, so I think it’ll do me more good to return to jogging as recovery, and that is what I did on my 6xhalf-miles today.

I programmed my Garmin for 3:30 recoveries, since I expected to do around 3:40 intervals. Aside from my 5th interval at 3:35, all the others were between 3:41 and 3:42, so I was right on target for the workout. So now I have some solid numbers to build upon. Good Thing #5

As for Good Thing #6, I have to thank Lara for that. She knew I was searching out a more Zen-like approach to my running, less goal-oriented (if that’s possible), so she came up with the perfect answer this Saturday. It’s a fun run called, “In The Pursuit of Hoppiness”, where we’ll meet with a group at the Museum and do a 5-mile easy run culminating at Dock Street Brewery for beer and food. There are already 30 people signed up so it should be a blast.

Best yet, we’ve got our men (who are both bicycle freaks) driving there with their bikes and dry clothes for us, so they’ll park at the brewery and ride around till we get there and when we do, we’ll have clean duds awaiting us! How perfect is that?? The other cool thing is I’ve never run through that part of the city, plus it’s on sidewalks, which I’d like to get over my fear of, leading to more exploration of the city in future.

And now I’m looking forward to Good Thing #7, Mexican food tonight with Lara and Jeff at a place I’ve never been to. I love Mexican food but eat it so rarely, this’ll be a treat.

In the meantime, I’ll keep looking for Good Things, I think there are probably a few more hiding out here – like, I read a fun novel yesterday (haven’t done that in forever) and I got another voiceover job for next week and….enough already. It’s all good.