Warm Running

I used to be one of those people who thought who even wins giveaways? Until I won one. My first giveaway I won was my RoadiD which I wrote about here, Staying Safe As A Solo Runner. Fast forward to now, I was partaking in a BibRave Chat. During this BibRave Chat, Buff was partnering and at the end BibRave would choose two winners to be gifted with a Buff as long as you answered the questions they asked with the hashtag #BibChat.  I was watching Harry Potter as I was chatting and suddenly got the notification on Twitter that I was one of the winners!

What is Buff?

Buff is essentially multifunctional headwear to keep you warm throughout any activity that you may be doing.  In the photo above I wear it around my neck (I usually wear it underneath my Nike Hijab on my neck but for photo purposes I am wearing it over my Nike Hijab), but it can be worn as a headband, a bandana etc.  There are 12 different ways to wear it!

Buff actually began when one of the founders, who was/is a fan of motorcycling, was trying to find a solution to keeping his neck & head protected. That's when this idea of a multifunctional headwear was born. The name Buff is actually a shortened version of the word bufanda which is the Spanish word for scarf. As the weather gets colder and winter finally settles in, anyone who is athletic is on the quest to keep warm as the seasons change!

Which Buff did I get?

I got the Original Reflective R-Coral Pink one. I tend to always stick with blues and greys (special shout out to the men's section for having no fun patterns/colors - personally I like to have a lil bit of room in my running tops) so having a pop of color seemed like a great idea. The great thing about this one is that it's reflective i.e. If I end up going on an evening run and it gets darker a little sooner than I thought, cars would still be able to see me!

ALSO! Almost forgot the best part! It is made with 2 recycled plastic bottles!

HOW DOES IT FEEL ON THE NECK: 2.31 Mile Run in 45°F | 7°C

This was my first run with my Buff and it was a bit windy so I thought it was the perfect weather to start wearing it. However, as I was running I was overly aware that something was around my neck and it felt uncomfortable. I think this is majorly because my neck wasn't used to something being there to keep it warm. As I finished the run, I began to think that it probably needed to be colder to wear it.  I ran at a 9:53 pacing and finished the run itself in 22:55. I was building up mileage after an injury hence the not so fast run.

the amount of times I had to run past my tripod because I was going too fast and my phone couldn't capture me at the right moment - so uh enjoy a blurry Sahara running

HOW DOES IT FEEL ON THE NECK: 100M Sprints (2.08 Miles total) in 52°F | 11°C

This was a Speed Workout - 20 Repetitions of Mile Sprints for 30 seconds. (Uh basically 30 seconds of sprinting 20 times in a row with a minute rest in between each) So, although it was a little bit warmer compared to the first day I wore it, it didn't bother me as much. This confirmed to me that I just needed to get used to something keeping my neck warm as I run. I ran this run with a pacing of 7:12 and finished the run itself in 15:00.

For transparency here's the list of my workout that day:

HOW DOES IT FEEL ON THE NECK: 3.29 Mile Run in 56°F | 13°C

By this time around, I have gotten comfortable with running with something keeping my neck warm. This was actually my Race Day, and it was windy and raining. Throughout this run my Buff kept me warm but not tooo warm to the point where I felt uncomfortable. I finished my race with a time of 27:57!

HOW DOES IT FEEL ON THE NECK: 3.1 Mile Run 40°C | 4°C

The temperature was slowly going down and although the Buff is meant to keep me warm, during this run I started to become overly aware of it. You know when you're wearing a winter scarf and your neck just wants to be free because it's too hot even though it's actually freezing? Yep so that was me during this run.

One thing I realized is that what makes it or breaks it for me when it comes to this Buff is whether or not it's going to be windy/freezing run. If it's not windy then that's when I feel I begin to feel uncomfortably hot with it on.

I finished this run with a pacing of 9:23 per mile and finished the run itself in 29:27 (thankfully I now feel strong enough to continue increasing my speed per mile wohoo for being injury-free!)

here we have me holding my tripod remote not knowing how else to pose for a photo anymore

MY VERDICT ON THE Buff: It's great to keep you warm as it starts to get colder. Winter is Coming and it's better to bundle up with something that's really lightweight.  The great thing is that it absorbs my sweat so I'm never actually sweating around my neck.

Although I feel it really depends on wind in terms of comfort, there were times where it felt uncomfortable while I was running but on my cool down walk I was thankful to be wearing it.

Also any snowboarders out there? Skiers? MY WINTER SPORTS FAM PLS INVEST when you're going down slopes this will 100% be keeping your neck warm. I for one know I will be wearing this when I go skiing - although light it does a great job of keeping me warm on my windy runs. 

Not really a have-it-around-your-neck type of person?

Other than there being 12 different ways to wear it, they also have warm hats!

Have a four legged running friend?

They also have Buffs for them too! You can't leave your running friend without some warm neckwear!

Have a little kid that's also athletic and loves to run/ski/snowboard/what-ever-sport-floats-your-boat?

They have Kid Buff's too!

How are you preparing for running/what-ever-sport-floats-your-boat in the colder months? 

p.s: I wasn't paid to write this or anything like that, I just won the giveaway and felt like doing a review on it!

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