Run #5.1 - Columbia Product Review

Last month Columbia Sportswear contacted me to see if I would be interested in some field testing of a new product, an Omni-Freeze Cool Rules short sleeved top. Um, Yes! I'd be happy to! So for my first run in the next round of training, this time for the Lacamas Lake Half Marathon, I ran in my new shirt!

Run-wise it was great! My leg felt no pain, I didn't feel any residual soreness from Seattle, and I didn't melt! I drove to the store, parked, then ran my usual loop before returning to my car and shopping! I did 2.5 miles and actually had a pretty fast pace. Nice!

Now, the shirt. It is a cool, kind of icy blue color, as you can see to the left. I prefer my shirts to be looser on me when I run, so I ordered it in large and it fit me exactly the way I like my running shirts to fit!  The fabric felt amazing. It was so soft and while I was running I hardly noticed it!  

It was 70º during my run. For me this is warm. I haven't run in a temperature this high (I know, I know, that is not high at all for most of you!) since the Princess Half Marathon. Lesley can attest to the fact that at the Princess I was dying. I was melting, my eyes were rolling around in my head. I was sure I was on the sun. Anyway, with this being my warmest run in months and the air feeling humid, I was nervous about going out. This shirt and I fell in love! It kind of has the coolness effect of a tank top (or singlet as they say), with the extra coverage and sun protection of a shirt. This year I've really been worrying about my skin, the sun and cancer, so I've been trying to go for more coverage. What this shirt has is built in ventilation. You can't see in this photo, but it actually has these little vents... small circles for the air to get in and out, but still full fabric so you are covered. The vents were on the sides of my body and down the middle of my back. I really think it worked!

This shirt was never clinging to me. I never felt any rubbing from seams or the sleeves. It didn't even have that funny tech shirt smell! I was pleasantly surprised. I have a very hard time finding shirts that I truly like and feel comfortable in. I am so happy Columbia let me test this out because it really did pretty much move to the top of my favorite shirts list. I may have to go find some and get multiple colors. Ooh, another thing I liked IS the color - it is different enough that it matches some of my running skirts really well!  I just googled and found where you can see more about it, or buy one if you want to be twinsies with me!

So I'm totally not being biased because they sent this to me. I really did love this shirt! And for the fine print ... the FTC requires me to tell you that I was provided this shirt free of charge from Columbia for testing purposes.

I'm going for an 8 mile run this weekend, and I will be wearing this shirt again to really get a feel for it before submitting my review to Columbia. I'll let you know how I like it!