Drinking the Kool-Aid: Gear Review

I admit it, I have totally been sucked in by lululemon lately.  I will admit to finding a lot of things quite expensive although I am really happy with the quality of things I’ve bought.  I stopped in when I got home on Monday and I managed to get a great deal on a running jacket – the Run: Velocity Jacket II.  I do have a running jacket, but it is quite lightweight.  I thought that this jacket would see me through some cooler weather runs and I was pretty excited to try it out on my run on Thursday.

It was –25C when I left for work in the morning, but there were promises of the day warming up to a whopping –7C.  By the time lunch hour rolled around it was –9.6C, there was minimal wind and the sun was shining (a rare occurrence around here lately).  I dressed up in tights, a short sleeve shirt, a long sleeve mid-weight layer and some Smartwool socks.  Throw on the jacket, plus gloves and a toque.  The jacket has thumbholes and cuffins that you can pull over your fingers though in case you forget the gloves (or need some extra protection).While it was a bit cool walking down towards the pathway along the river , once I got going it felt amazing out.  I found the running hard in Australia, most likely because of the humidity down there.  Here in the crisp, cool weather it felt so much better.  I was happy to see I actually gained a bit of speed back!  As the sun kept shining down as I started to warm up.  Thank goodness for the pit zips on the jacket!There is also a special spot in one of the pockets to hold your iPod, with a hole to route the cord for the earphones.  Plus you can write you name and phone number in it in case you accidently misplace your jacket.I loved the jacket and I’m really happy with my purchase.  With the right layering it will definitely work well in the cold and snow, and it is waterproof so it would be great in the rain too.  Have I mentioned that it has a stowable hood too?  And finally, the jacket looks good enough that I’d use it as an every day jacket in the spring.  And since it has silver woven into the lining of the coat it won’t stink, so it will be perfectly useable at any time!  Did you know the silver is recycled from old Kodak film?  Interesting, eh?Sadly the jacket doesn’t seem to be available on the website anymore, but there are other jackets with similar features there.  You never know, there is generally a plethora of lululemon stuff on eBay too.