Preppy Runner – Theodora Blanchfield

Yesterday was pretty awesome.

In the morning, I worked out at Exhale with Lady Foot Locker and got a pretty sweet outfit.

In the afternoon, I was incredibly productive to make up for my morning of fun.

In the evening…

I went to a marathon product party at Lululemon!

Caitlin had emailed me late Wednesday night to see if I wanted to come to the Lululemon Soho’s marathon party. The invite said that we’d go for a short run and then come back and give them some feedback on products.

I like:

• Caitlin
• running
• Lululemon

…so clearly I was down.

I walked in and was immediately greeted by happy, peppy Lululemon-wearing ladies. They asked a little bit about what I usually run in and what I wanted to try out.

I said I usually run in either one of their running skirts or a pair of Nike shorts with a built-in compression layer underneath for long runs. On top, I usually wear my I <3 Sweat shirt or another Lululemon tank I have.

I tried on this top but didn’t like how it looked around my stomach.

That’s me not sucking in. [I don’t remember the name of this one and can’t find it on the site.]

Next, I tried on the Run: Swiftly top and the Run: Inspire Crop. I absolutely loved how the crops sucked in everything. I have a similar pair that I can’t wait to pull out in the winter. I was pleasantly surprised that such a form-fitting top didn’t hug my stomach too much.

[Yes, my socks are mismatched. But technically they’re the same sock, just different colors, so I don’t consider them mismatched at all.]

I was really happy with this outfit, but they kept asking me what I liked and what I thought I’d run the marathon in. I told them I’d likely wear my skirt or the Nike Phantom shorts, and finally they asked if I wanted to try another skirt. YES!

They had sort of implied when we walked in that we’d get to try some clothes out, so I asked in between one of the many outfit changes how that would work. I guess they planned on some slightly more dramatic reveal, but I kind of busted them. Sorry.

“You get to keep a pair of crops and a long-sleeved top!” they said. “Once you pick it out, let us know and we’ll take the sensors off and we’ll go for a group run.”

A FREE LULULEMON OUTFIT??? WELL, OKAY!

I think they could tell I wasn’t really feeling the crops (I probably won’t put on pants to run until after the marathon unless there is some freak cold snap), so they let me go with a skirt and Run Swiftly top instead. I’m going to try the skirt out for my long run on Sunday and will probably wear it for the marathon!

[Because I want to be like Erica. My very cool friend Erica (also Erica of the marathon necklaces) was just in the NY Times for a story about running skirts.]

Me, Ashley and Caitlin [photo via Ashley]

Once we’d all picked out our gear, we went out for a really short run down to City Hall and back to test it out. We came back and the group of about 10 of us sat around with some Lululemon employees after the store had closed to discuss what we wanted to see in running gear/apparel, what we liked, our thoughts about Lululemon and anything else that came to mind related to running gear.

Unsurprisingly, their customer base is 80 percent women and 20 percent men. I asked if they got a lot of single guys (not selfishly, I swear) coming in or if most guys were with their wives or girlfriends. Because let’s be clear–Lululemon isn’t quite the most macho brand. Some of us suggested things like race and athletic sponsorships to raise their visibility and possibly even rebranding their men’s line to have a more masculine name.

They seemed mostly pretty open to our thoughts and ideas, but they kept explaining why they do the things they do. Another frustration I voiced was how quickly their products cycle out–sometimes I’ll see something online I like, think about it for awhile, and by the time I’m ready to buy it, it’s gone. (This quick product cycling also leads to a huge secondary market on eBay.)

So, in summary, I like free stuff and I like to talk. (I have a blog. These two things should already be self-evident.) Getting compensated in free stuff for talking? Not so bad.

Do you like Lululemon? Why or why not? If you are a Lululemon lover, what’s your favorite product or thing about the company? Do you have any feedback for them?

My favorite item is definitely my first running skirt, although its gel pocket is definitely a bit too small to actually fit a gel.

If you could be paid in product to sit around and talk about said product, what product/brand would you most like to talk about?

Well, talking about Lululemon (or, Luluberry, if you’re my mom) was pretty cool. J. Crew? I like you guys a lot, too. Wanna chat?

And: team running skirt or team real-runners-don’t-wear-skirts?

See above.