I live in the Detroit area, in the southeast corner of the "Mitten," as some of us affectionately call our state. And in case you are totally unfamiliar with global weather patterns..it gets cold here. Now we are NOT Northern Canada here, if you ever want to feel good about your weather, just pull up Yellowknife, Northwestern Territories, Canada on weather.com. That will make you feel better in a hurry (looking forward to an average high temp. this week of 12 degree F). But, alas we do get cold around here.
I plan on doing some long distance winter running this year and am currently on the lookout for a good running jacket. Currenlty I just have a Nike half-zip warmup jacket. Here are two candidates:
I really like this jacket for a couple of reasons. First is is cheaper then my other options, coming in at $129. New Balance is also a running company, so I figure that they know how to make running gear. It also has one of those handy pockets for an Ipod, and thumbholes. I also like the general design on this jacket. In classic running store style, my local shop only had these in large and smaller, because everyone who runs is 5'9" 127lbs apparently. So I have not had an opportunity to try this one on.
This is actually a biking jacket that was recommended by a friendly salesperson at REI. He said that he knows some runners who work at their store who use the jacket for running. This jacket is great in the cold, it is usually work by people biking in the winter. REI is a great place to go get advice on outdoor gear, those people know their stuff, and not from training videos. I like the fact that there is a nice big back pocket and also thumb holes in the arms. I also have tried this jacket on, so that is a plus. The downside is that it is an "athletic fit," which means pretty skin tight. I usually do not like things to be clingy to me while running (long story about HS cross country uniforms). But this is not too tight. I also think I would be mistaken for a deer hunter in the jacket, but that is probably not a deal breaker.
So I don't really know which way I will go, but these two are the top candidates right now. Rest assured that I will give a full review if I decide to get either one. any opinions after reading the specs are greatly appreciated.
--JD
I think you'd look great in the black and white one. Do you know if they make it in a size that might work for you?
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on the second one: I like the bright color a lot. It would cheer me up during winter runs, and being brightly colored is not necessarily a bad thing because cars will see you more easily if visibility is poor. Do both jackets have reflective material to make you more visible at night?
Rosiecat,
ReplyDeleteThey both do have night reflective material on them, although I believe the NBx one has a little more of it. If only I could find one in my size to try on, I would probably go with it.