Fashion Forward: Exercise apparel & a muddy 5k

Sporting an old white Hanes T-shirt, black Under Armour spandex and my Nike Frees, I was up early and pumped for a 5K run. Except this race involved an extra accessory in addition to workout clothes—mud. My friends and I signed up last minute for The Delaware Mud Run last week, a 5K race with boot camp obstacles surrounded by mud in benefit for Leukemia research.
 The “Rocky” theme song was blasting, my protein shake was made and I was stretching like a pro—clearly my friends and I were ready to run in mud, right? To be honest, we had no idea what we were doing. All we knew was that we were fun—literally—because we had “We’re Fun and We Know It” scribbled on our team shirts in colored marker. 

We arrived to “Frightland,” a vast open field in Middletown, Delaware, where haunted attractions take place during Halloween. Halloween was very much what it felt like the moment we scoped out the competition. Suddenly our cute DIY T-shirts looked pathetic compared to the crazy and clever costumes people were sporting for the event. Most girls wore florescent neon spandex and colorful apparel for a contrast once they hit the mud. It only got crazier from there—a team with lingerie over their clothes claimed to be “Victoria’s Secret,” while Captain Crunch, the Trix Bunny and Tony the Tiger paraded around holding their breakfast. We had a few laughs at the bearded men in dresses, the adult babies in diapers and the most entertaining of all—a group wearing scrubs that said, “I see more penis than a prostitute.” The amount of appalled faces that slowly transformed into relief once they realized they were a team of professional nurses was hilarious to say the least. I prayed that the massive Teletubbies wouldn’t get stuck in the long mud tunnels—clearly performance and efficiency was not the priority here. The race was all about mud, fun and the search for a cure.  
     
Let’s be honest, exercise isn’t always the most exciting activity and looking your best is the last thing on your mind when it comes to working out. But believe it or not, investing in some great workout apparel can do wonders for your performance and motivation. Don’t get me wrong—I tend to throw on an old tee and shorts from time to time, but higher quality clothes for your workout make you feel and perform better. Call it the placebo effect, but there’s nothing that makes me more excited to work out than cute new exercise gear. Nike has an amazing line of cute and colorful apparel—from neon dri-FIT tops to their popular Nike Free running shoes (which can be custom designed on Nike.com). For their new collection “Made By Nike,” the company chose fashion blogger Bip Ling to promote performance and style for their campaign. Tennis players Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and the Williams sisters are known to set trends on and off the court. And the best part is their cute tennis outfits aren’t so exclusive—they can be purchased by anyone at Nike or Adidas. 
There are so much fashionable options when it comes to exercise clothes—though they tends to be pricey, remember that they’re durable and a few pieces can go a long way. 
     
After 17 obstacles of mud cliffs, pits, walls, tunnels, fire (yes, there was fire) and a pool of ice—somehow we managed to cross the finish line alive.  It was a tough trek for sure but such a fun experience at the same breath. Needless to say, we did not look pretty. We walked over to the huge crowd in line of hoses where everyone washed away the hottest fashion statement of the day—mud.