Getting Back Into It: Running

November 5, 2015 - lynne 5 Comments

Since moving to Pittsburgh in August, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my running shoes. For a number of reasons – working from home, lack of mountain adventures, abundance of time on my own – I’ve been able to really prioritize running and fitness again and it feels great.

In years past, I loved training for and running races. I ran my first half marathon in 2009 and then ran 3 more in the year that followed alongside various 5ks and 10ks. As one of my best friends, Sarah, put it, ‘If you work really hard to get into long distance running shape, why wouldn’t you just stay there?’ So that’s exactly what I did!

Until I had knee surgeries (not related to running; I have Osteochondritis Dissecans in both knees – see Osteochondritis Dissecans posts here), I always had a race training plan pinned up at my office desk and dutifully crossed off my mileage as I finished my runs.

Alex moved to Denver just before my knee surgeries and after I’d recovered, I wanted to spend my weekends playing in the mountains with my soon-to-be husband, not using all of my free time to run long miles. So running slid to the back burner while all things mountains jumped squarely to the front. But now? No mountains and no husband with free time. And I’m in a new city so what better way to learn how to get around than by running it!

So that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m running around my neighborhood. I’m running at the parks. I’m running with the local running store run club. I’ve signed up for races (ran a 5k in September) and am building training plans. And it feels really, really good!

For the first time in, ohh 18 months?, I charged up my ancient Garmin watch and ran. I signed up for a Thanksgiving Day 10k so got out for a timed 4 mile run to get a gauge on my speed as well as fatigue ahead of the race.

I surprised myself by my pace (not super speedy but speedier than I’d expected) and also how not tired I felt afterward. #Winning

And last night’s run club was a 4 mile loop that 2 months ago would have terrified me – running with speedy friends for 4 miles? ACK! But last night, I kept up and was even able to be conversational with my friends. #DoubleWinning!

In this new chapter of my life, there are a lot of things I still miss from ‘my old life’ but this is one aspect I really love and appreciate. After years of saying, ‘I really want to make time to run but I’m just so busy!’ or signing up for races as incentive to train – but then not training and not running the race – I’m happy to be in a time and place where I’m able to prioritize my fitness and running again. I forgot exactly how therapeutic a long run can be!

Watching a Bengals Game in Steelers Country

November 2, 2015 - lynne 2 Comments

This past week, the Graduate School Association at Carnegie Mellon held a lottery for Steelers tickets at a discounted price. ‘Go to a Steelers Game (while not revealing we’re not rooting for the Steelers)’ has been on our Pittsburgh Must Do list from the moment we knew were moving so no question we added our names. And icing on the cake was these were tickets to the Bengals/Steelers game!

Alex and I were bummed to not be picked in the lottery but on Thursday, he got an email that there were some unclaimed tickets still available and that interested students could come to the office at 1 p.m. for a first-come-first-serve arrangement.

Luckily for Alex, it’s his break week between classes and was already on campus so he hustled over to the office and snagged us a pair of heavily discounted tickets to watch the undefeated Bengals play the Steelers at Heinz field!

From Shadyside where we live, we took the bus downtown ($2.50 for a 1 way fare, free for students with ID!) and then the free subway to Heinz Field. Alex knew a couple of other classmates going to the game and we met up with a couple at the Stage AE Tailgate party.

This band named Velveeta (yum!) played a bunch of cover songs and I giggled when they broke this one out. Piano Man at a tailgate? We drank cheap beer while chatting with our friends in the hour or so before the game started.

Now, side note: I was a little bit terrified of wearing my Bengals jersey to a Steelers home game. Pittsburgh is CRAZY about the Steelers and I was not too interested in getting heckled because, well, there are thousands of them and only 2 of us Petres. But I (wo)manned up and wore my jersey and Bengal style Toms out the door. On our way downtown, we did get yelled out by drives who slowed down their car, rolled down their window and thought it would be effective to BOOOOOO us but outside of this, I was relieved to find out that Steelers fans pretty much left us alone.

Because Steelers football is pretty much a religion here in Pittsburgh, everyone wears Steelers gear like I’ve never seen. I’ve been to NFL games in other cities and was able to find people who were still wearing everyday/casual clothes. Not at Heinz Field. Every single person had on Steelers garb – jerseys, knitted Steelers sweaters, scarves, hats, tshirts, zip up hoodies, necklaces and, of course, the Terrible Towel. Alex and I were so obviously out of place it was hilarious! There were are few other Bengals fans clustered throughout and we all ‘WHODEY’d’ each other in solidarity as we passed one another.

The game itself was not very exciting – both teams were playing pretty conservatively and the game was in single digits for much of the time. Our seats were a few rows from the top but pretty good for seeing the whole field and had a nice view of the river behind the stadium.

Near the end of the game, the guy sitting behind me got a little aggressive while swinging his Terrible Towel in front of our faces (that’s right, he sat behind us but still managed to swing his towel in front of us) and actually smacked me in the face with it. Obviously, he was intentionally swinging the towel, but to his credit, he was apologetic and said he hadn’t meant to hit me.

When the Bengals won (#WHODEY!!!), Alex and I congratulated ourselves (because we did a lot to affect the outcome) and quietly made our way out of the stadium. Surprisingly, a number of Steeler fans congratulated us too! Of course there were some obnoxious Bengals fans as we exited but, on the whole, everyone was respectful of each other.

The Bengals are having a heck of a year (first 7-0 start EVER) and I’m really glad we had the opportunity to cross ‘Go to a Steelers game’ off our list with this game. It’s definitely a bit intimidating to show up in the opposing team’s jersey at Heinz Field but if I had the opportunity to watch the Bengals and Steelers battle it out again, I’d wear my jersey again.

And from what I heard around the tailgate and on the bus is that as long as you’re not wearing a Ravens jersey, Steelers fans shouldn’t give you too much crap. Noted!

Fall Colors in the Midwest

October 20, 2015 - lynne 1 Comment

When we decided to move to Pittsburgh, I was really looking forward to experiencing fall in the Midwest again: the vibrant leaves in reds, yellows, oranges; the chilly mornings and crisp afternoons; snuggling up under blankets. (side discussion: Pittsburgh is Midwest or East Coast? I call it Midwest – we are less than an hour from Ohio and West Virginia – but people in Pittsburgh seem undecided; there are arguments for each side.)

Now, I don’t know if this fall is typical of Pittsburgh or not but it’s been exceptionally great fall weather this season. There have been some rainy days, some gray days, but many of the days have brought bright blue skies, warm afternoons and chilly evenings. It’s felt like quintessential fall and I definitely dig it.

Of course, when I went out the other weekend to hike and look at fall colors, it was not one of those blue skied days; a cold front was rolling in so it was gray and a little drizzly. But even still, the leaves popped and looked so beautiful.

This is certainly not to say fall in Denver was anything to gripe about – I loved it! But Denver has a very different fall in my experience. It’s not usually the slow decline from summer to winter…it’s a long summer that bleeds into a warm (sometimes hot!) fall that quickly jumps straight into frigid winter temps and then bounces around between warm and cold for a number of weeks before settling on winter.

And Denver just doesn’t have the same ratio of deciduous tress as the Midwest so there are far fewer opportunities to see the beautiful reds and oranges of fall. (Though, in the mountains, Aspen trees turn the mountain-sides a glittering gold that is absolutely stunning. #tradeoffs). Even compared to Cincinnati leaves, Pittsburgh colors trump. +1 for Western Pennsylvania!

We may not stay in Pittsburgh forever but I am certainly glad we’ll be here for at least 2 years of fall weather.

A Colorado-Style Bachelorette Party

October 14, 2015 - lynne Leave a comment

This past weekend, my oldest friend, Sarah, tied the knot with her now-husband, Brian, in a beautiful ceremony in Sarasota, FL. Sarah and Brian live in Florida but Sarah grew up in Denver (we met in elementary school in a Denver suburb!) and wanted Colorado to be part of her wedding celebrations so her sister planned the perfect Colorado-style bachelorette party a few weeks earlier in September.

The group of gals met at the Denver airport on Thursday evening from all over the country – Orlando, FL; Ann Arbor, MI; Billings, MT and Denver, CO. The Denver girls picked up the rest of us from the airport and we high-tailed it to The Rio, a downtown Denver staple, for tacos and margaritas to refuel before the trek out to our weekend home, Breckenridge!

Christine, Sarah’s sister, booked a huge mountain house about 5 minutes up the mountain from downtown Vail which was perfect for our group. We spent Thursday night catching up on the couch until, one by one, we retired to our rooms.

Friday morning brought plans of a mellow hike on the ski mountain followed by standup paddleboard yoga. The crisp fall morning air scared the Floridians but we assured them the afternoon would be plenty warm.

We hiked the Sawmill Trail that meandered from the base of the Snowflake lift up to a pretty lake for a 1.5 mile round trip. While the hike was short, we took many stops to snap photos, explore off trail and share stories.

As you can see, the weather warmed up nicely and we shed our layers pretty early into the hike. After finding the lake, we headed back down the mountain to grab some lunch and head to our paddleboard yoga class!

Meta Yoga Studios hosts SUP Yoga on the Breckenridge Lake and the class was perfect for our group. Our instructor asked if we wanted more restorative and stretching or high intensity…we quickly opted for restorative/stretching as this was the first SUP class for the majority of us. Our instructor, Amy, led us through a gentle practice and we were thrilled to not have lost anyone off their board.

After yoga, we headed back up the mountain to our house to relax, drink a beer and get ready for dinner in downtown Breckenridge. Christine picked another staple for dinner and we dined at the Breckenridge Brewery (can’t not stop a brewery when in Colorado!)…and of course we brought our friend, Gregory Pecker, the inflatable penis.

Rather than hit the town, we trekked back up the mountain and spent Friday night enjoying the house. We’d stocked up on beer, wine and liquor in Denver so it was an easy choice to head back and drink what we already had on hand.

Saturday morning was our check-out day in the house so we made breakfast, cleaned up and hit the road for Vail where we planned to do another hike and then check out Vail’s Oktoberfest before our final long trek into Denver.

In Vail, we followed the Berry Picker trail from Vail Village up to a wide open run (looks like a black run called Lindsey’s from the Vail trail map!) where we munched on snacks and broke out a celebratory bottle of wine to share.

We really lucked out as both Breckenridge and Vail were in prime leaf changing season and the mountainsides were littered with glittering yellow aspens. It was so beautiful and we couldn’t stop staring and taking photos. Truthfully, it made my heart happy and sad – happy to be back in ‘my’ state on such a beautiful weekend with great friends but sad to know time was fleeting and I’d have to head home to Pittsburgh – instead of Denver – at the end of the weekend.

Once we packed up our snack garbage and drank the last sips of wine (Leave No Trace, people!), we strolled back down the mountainside, bound for Vail Village’s Oktoberfest celebration!

The party was jam-packed and we were excited to eat pretzels and quench our thirst with boots of German beer. Luckily, we snagged a table for all 9 of us and enjoyed a couple of hours in the festive madness. At one point, (those of us who weren’t driving) played a game where we pass a giant boot of beer around the table while yelling, BOOT! BOOT! BOOT! It was ridiculous and hilarious as we caught the attention of the event photographer and everyone around us was cheering as the bride-to-be finished off the beer.

Prost!

With bellies full of beer, sausage and sauerkraut, we loaded up our caravans and made our way back into Denver for a final night of celebrating in ‘traditional’ bachelorette party style. Christine booked us rooms at the fancy Westin hotel and we settled into two rooms to get ready for the night ahead of us.

Of course we ran into a group of NYC firemen at our first bar!

The rest of the night was spent eating pizza at the fabulous Osteria Marco, playing PacMan at the arcade bar 1Up and dancing at Cowboy Lounge. When we called it a night, we ordered (more) pizza to be delivered to our room to help stave off any hangover in the morning and then crashed hard when our heads hit the pillow.

If you’re an adventurous gal who isn’t into the traditional bachelorette party themes, would highly recommend you consider a weekend in the mountains to celebrate. Breckenridge was perfect as there is ample hiking, food/drink and beautiful views to take in while still being relatively close to Denver (1.5 hour drive). Obviously, the most important part of a bachelorette weekend is celebrating the bride to be but doing it in a cute mountain town? Perfection.

A Healthier Brownie Recipe That Still Tastes Legit (Seriously)

October 8, 2015 - lynne 7 Comments

I know, blasphemy, right?

First things first, I don’t often have a sweet tooth but when I do, I usually want either a chocolate chip cookie or a brownie. The craving struck last weekend and I couldn’t get brownies off my mind.

My most favorite brownie recipe (here! Shout out to Ina Garten) is full of buttery goodness and peanut butter swirls. It’s heavenly and decadent and just a bite will satisfy the strongest sweet tooth. The only problem is my favorite brownies are a labor of love and I just wasn’t in the mood for a full-on baking event. (Truthfully, I wasn’t into the cleanup part of a full-on baking event.)

So I did some googleing; I decided if I was going to try a new recipe, why not try a healthier recipe? I have chocolate Designer Protein powder in my pantry so surely there was a protein powder recipe, right?

Well, as it turns out, there weren’t as many protein powder brownies on the internet or on Pinterest as I expected (or, you all now know that I have subpar googling skillz) but I found a recipe from Ambitious Kitchen (here!) that fit my bill and promised to be delicious.

I gathered my ingredients and set to work during halftime of the Bengals game. I started and finished these brownies and popped them in the oven and the sportscasters were still chitchatting about the first half, that’s how easy these were!

Of course, what’s a new recipe without two thumbs up from the sweet tooth in the house? Not a recipe that makes it to my blog, that’s for sure. Alex and his friend took a break from football (err, studying Managerial Economics) to give these a try and both nodded in agreement, this recipe is a keeper.

Compared to my labor-of-love brownies, these are much cake-ier but are still very moist! I added coconut chips to mine before baking; Alex would have preferred a few more chocolate chips sprinkled throughout but these are plenty sweet with just a few chocolate chips on top. (Says the not-so-sweet-tooth.)

IF YOU MAKE IT

Coconut Raspberry Brownies with Protein Powder

Adapted from Ambitious Kitchen’s 100 Calorie Raspberry Chocolate Chip Brownies

1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup Whey Chocolate Protein Powder (I used Designer Protein Gourmet Chocolate)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla cashew milk
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/4 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup fresh raspberries

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350*F and spray 8×8 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Using a blender or food processor, blend oats for a minute until it resembles flour. Move flour to a medium/large bowl and whisk in protein powder and cocoa powder; set aside.
Whisk applesauce, egg, honey, vanilla and cashew milk until well combined and smooth.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together until just combined.
In a small saucepan, heat coconut oil and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring continuously. Once completely melted, gently stir into brownie batter.
Pour mixture into 8×8 pan. Sprinkle small handful of chocolate chips and coconut flakes on top of the mixture; add raspberries to the batter (I placed whole raspberries in the batter but you could also cut into pieces and sprinkle on top).
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the age old knife test says these are done baking. Set aside to cool.
Once cooled, cut into 12 pieces and enjoy!

Welcome to LynnePetre.com

September 28, 2015October 4, 2015 - lynne 12 Comments

Oh hey! Welcome to my new little space on the internet. Let’s chat about it.

You likely know me through my previous blog, lgsmash.com. I started lgsmash as a young 25 year old, facing major knee surgeries with not-yet-on-the-market options and not finding any real life stories about Osteochondritis Dessicans + the DeNovo NT procedure. I started lgsmash to chronicle that journey – from decision making, through surgery and recovery and then into my return to all things athletic and outdoors.

In recent years, lgsmash started to feel juvenile, like a favorite blanket you used to love and have since outgrown but aren’t quite ready to quit yet. When I started lgsmash on my 25th birthday, I was living in Denver on my own, dating a boy who lived across the country and was figuring out how adult life worked. Over the years, that blog saw me through 2 knee surgeries, an engagement and marriage to that long distance boyfriend, a name change, winter camping, mountaineering school, rock climbing and moving across the country. I’ve grown up a lot in that time and knew I wanted my online space to reflect this but I wasn’t quite ready to commit.

I purchased LynnePetre.com earlier this year and once I got my bearings in the midwest after our big move, I knew it was time in this season of transition and growth. So here we are!

I want to use this blog in a more focused, more visual way to share stories. Stories of outdoor and fitness adventures and gear I love as I navigate new terrain and trails. Of cooking and food because it turns out, with more time on my hands, I actually kind of like cooking food. And lastly, of life moments because we’re all on this crazy journey together, just trying to figure it out and sharing life stories connect us.

So I hope you’ll poke around and decide to stay. I’m really looking forward to connecting with you in this new space and not only sharing my stories, but hearing yours, too.

Cheers to new beginnings!

Pittsburgh Hike: McConnell’s Mill State Park

September 25, 2015October 4, 2015 - lynne Leave a comment

Since moving to Pittsburgh, I’ve been slow to explore much outside the city. With weekend visitors, school commitments, travel and settling in, it’s been hard to get out and check out our surroundings. And frankly, despite having a super long list of things I want to be sure to do, it felt intimidating to know where to start. (note to self: just START.)

Living in Denver, I hit the trails at least once a week either by trail running, camping, hiking or climbing and, a couple of weeks ago, I realized just how much the lack of nature was affecting me and did something about it. Of course, the forecast called for rain all day long but I loaded up a small day pack and hit the road for McConnell’s Mill State Park, fingers crossed for a break in the drops.

As luck would have it, the rain eased into a light drizzle as I pulled into the parking lot and had completely dissipated as I locked up my Subaru to explore.

I’d done only a little bit of research before my trip; I knew the gristmill was a short hike from the parking lot and I knew there was climbing somewhere in the park. My goal was to find both.

A short hike from Johnson Road/McConnell’s Mill Road parking lot, the trail to the mill is a packed dirt trail with rock obstacles throughout and full of lush greenery alongside. It was really beautiful and hard to believe the colors around me. I forgot just HOW green the midwest is!

The hike is maybe 1/2 mile from the parking lot and is marked with a blue reflector. It’s a well worth path and easy to follow along the river.
Because it was a rainy afternoon, I enjoyed a very quiet day on the trail and inside the mill. I poked around inside and around, snapping photos and reading the plaques inside before deciding to continue further up the trail. (Note: there is also a parking lot right at the mill so visitors who don’t want to or can’t hike are still able to visit the mill!)

I ventured up another 1/2 mile southwest on the trail, past the Kildoo Bridge and falls; the trail follows the river the majority of the length of the park and, while there were no kayakers while I was hiking, I know it’s an option and I plan to come back and kayak along the trail I hiked.

Trip Report: McConnell's Mill, PA // lgsmash.com — Kildoo Bridge

I turned around and headed back towards the mill as darker clouds started rolling in above. I made it back to the parking just as the sky opened up and dropped big fat raindrops on my car, satisfied in my short afternoon jaunt in a Pennsylvania state park. While I didn’t see the climbing spots I’d hoped to scope out, I know exactly where to find them for the next trip out to McConnell’s Mill.

I drove back to Pittsburgh with a full heart; I’d found a small piece of what I’ve been missing so much in Pennsylvania. Trails and dirt; places to play outside. And over the coming weeks with no weekend plans, I’m penciling in a lot more park adventures to find beautiful vistas to view the fall colors. I can’t wait to see miles of reds, oranges and yellow; fall in the midwest can’t be beat.

IF YOU GO:

Only 45 minutes away from Pittsburgh, this state park is an excellent choice for hiking, backpacking, camping and climbing. Hikes are available for outdoor enthusiasts of all levels of ability. The park is 2,500 acres and is situated next to a sister state park, Moraine State Park, that looks to have a beach(!).

Trip Report: Swanson’s Arete, Multipitch Climbing in Eldo Canyon

September 24, 2015October 5, 2015 - lynne Leave a comment

In the vein of Throwback Thursday + the fact that I’m heading back to Colorado TONIGHT, I’m posting a trip report from my first multipitch climb in Eldo Canyon!

In July, a week and a half before we moved, Alex and I headed up to Eldorado Canyon (affectionately known as Eldo or Eldo Canyon), a famous climbing area just outside Boulder and a short 40 minute drive from Denver, with our friend Lucas for a 4th of July multi-pitch climb. Lucas has spent lots of time in Eldo and picked Swanson’s Arete to lead us up. Swanson’s Arete is a classic beginner’s climb, rated at 5.5 but much of Eldo is considered to be ‘sandbagged’ or rated at a lower difficulty than many perceive it to be.

Parking shortly after sunrise made for a cool hike into the canyon. A really cool thing about Eldo is that routes start right off the road so as park visitors drive through the main drag (or as climbers trek in), they can marvel at the routes being climbed just outside their window.

We hiked in about 20 minutes, gaining significant elevation in the short, ~.5 mile hike, and arrived at the base of our climb. Our route: Rewritten > Swanson’s Arete

Lucas briefed us on what do expect in the first pitch (‘take your pack off when you get to the chimney’) and up he went. We’d opted to ‘caterpillar climb’ meaning Lucas would climb, Alex would belay from below; then Alex would climb and Lucas would belay from above; lastly, I would climb and Alex would belay from above.

Going in to this climb, I was pretty stressed with the chaos of moving and had a hard time getting into the right headspace. As any climber knows, confidence, focus and determination are integral to your success and I spent much of the first pitch struggling to get a handle on my brain. It had helped watching Lucas and Alex head up before me because I was able to plan my route while I waited for my turn.

P1 was not my favorite; it looked a lot easier than it was and, with a lack of confidence, I slipped halfway up the pitch and fell partway back down the route. Which shook me up and put more doubt in my mind about if I’d be able to finish this climb. I let myself have a few moments of panic, realizing that the only way to get through it was to go up, before I refocused and found my determination. At the top of the pitch is a chimney – something I’d never tackled before. If I’d been in a better headspace, I would have enjoyed this challenge but I did not enjoy it in the moment. Regardless, the chimney is short and extremely doable.

Fortunately, the belay station between P1 and P2 was a pretty large ledge so I was able to calm down and regroup and these guys had room to snap selfies.

P2 brought us through Swanson’s Arete and, again, Lucas gave insider tips about where we could find bomber holds and how best to navigate the arete. Lucas first, then Alex, then I climbed; I flew through this pitch and found myself really enjoying it. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in sight and I made sure to pay close attention to my surroundings; this was to be my last outdoor climbing in Colorado for a while and I wanted to soak it all in.

Trip Report: Swanson's Arete Eldo Canyon // lgsmash.com — Getting my booty over Swanson’s Arete! AND SMILING!

And then…we got to the belay station of P2/P3. Airy belay stations are still something I’m not super jazzed about but I was proud of myself for (mostly) keeping it together. The team decided to switch from ‘caterpillar climbing’ to climbing in tandem where Lucas would lead and belay both me and Alex at the same time.

P3 had a funky start, immediately having to overcome a ledge with not-obvious holds, and I was thankful to have Alex there with me, rather than figuring it out on my own. It took us a few tries but we finally found the right hold to get up and over.

The rest of P3 was really fun with good holds and fun options. Alex climbed a few moves ahead of me and I was happy to summit shortly after he did. Success!

This was only my second multi-pitch and, despite my lack of confidence to start, I felt so much more comfortable here than I did on my first multi-pitch on the Boulder Flatirons. A combination of gym climbing + more exposure to exposure (outdoor top-roping, mountaineering school outings) really helped.

I can’t speak to the down climb as I was pooped and just following directions but I do know we followed Option 2 here. We did 3 rappels and had a super short hike back up to the crag before calling it a day and hiking back down the canyon to the car.

Back in the parking lot, we stopped in the ice cold South Boulder Creek to cool off before heading back into Denver.

It was such a perfect ending to our outdoor adventures as Colorado residents; climbing in the classic Eldo Canyon with one of our best friends…not much more this gal could have asked for.

Currently, September

September 23, 2015September 29, 2015 - lynne Leave a comment

…savoring the rare free time my husband has in his schedule (like last night’s impromptu and wonderful date night, thanks for the free tickets to Jersey Boys from Yelp!)

…working from home this week because my bike brakes are broken (boo)

…missing the girls I spent a ridiculously fun bachelorette weekend with in Colorado and

…counting down the days to Sarah’s wedding!

…spending 2 hours a week at OrangeTheory Fitness classes (I’m hooked!)

…planning fall hikes and camping to scope out Midwest fall color in the coming weeks

…beginning to plan and think about upcoming winter, spring and summer trips

…wishing someone would come over and make me dinners (and breakfasts and lunches)

…drinking kombucha like it’s my job

…loving the Ryan Adams 1989 cd

…appreciating that our family is within driving distance while we live in Pittsburgh (and looking forward to a visit this weekend!)

…starting to truly feel settled in Pittsburgh (finally!); with work, with the new routine, with life (better late than never!)

Gear Review: Soybu Clothing

September 22, 2015October 5, 2015 - lynne Leave a comment

Earlier this year, I hit up the 4th Annual Blend Retreat when it was hosted in Boulder again (yay!) and one of my favorite pieces of swag was the Soybu Killer Caboose Leggings included. They were stretchy in all the right places and didn’t droop into the dreaded ‘diaper booty’ like so many leggings do. These leggings even stood up during a 4 mile hike in Utah!

Local Love: Soybu // lgsmash.com

Because I loved the legging so much – and really love supporting local companies – I reached out to Soybu to ask about hosting a giveaway so help get their product into your hands, too!

Founded in Colorado, Soybu is an active fashion apparel line built on the principle that the only sure thing in life is its unpredictability and the clothing reflects this, able to transition from studio to street and everything in between. Given that this is the general attitude of Colorado where our outdoor clothing also doubles as everyday wear, Sobyu is a perfect fit for both Coloradans and active women everywhere who want to feel good and look good in their activewear.

(I enlisted my friend Alex Lin to help me snap some photos in downtown Denver.)

Local Love: Soybu // lgsmash.com

Featured: Mira Tank, Taylor Hoody + Jennisa Capri

Local Love: Soybu // lgsmash.com As a gal who works in a casual office and frequently wears athletic clothes to work, I love that this outfit fits just as well at 8 a.m. as it does at 7 p.m., after a long day at work and a lunch time bouldering session or late afternoon run.
My favorite piece of this outfit are the Jennisa Capris, hands down. As with the Killer Caboose leggings, these do not budge! The seaming helps keep the capris snug all day long and I love the gray pattern. The length of these capris is also spot on – the low-calf hit helps make these short legs look a tiny bit longer. (I might be tall…but no long legs over here!)

And for my long-waisted, short-legged sistas, the Mira Tank is a great choice. Before selecting a full outfit to review, I asked the Soybu team which of the tanks was the longest as it’s really tough for me to find a tank that fits properly and they recommended Mira, Cierra and Ariel. Wearing the Mira, I don’t feel the need to adjust it or pull it down every few seconds like I do with other, shorter tanks. As you can see in an above photo, it hits well below my hips.

Local Love: Soybu // lgsmash.com

I also really love that Soybu is affordable and great quality! While there’s a time and a place to pay $$$ for active wear, I really appreciate a company that makes great clothing, that fits and looks great and doesn’t break my bank.

Local Love: Soybu // lgsmash.com

So now! The fun part! Soybu wants to give you a pair of these Jennisa capris I love so much. Here’s how to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway closes on Sunday, July 12 at midnight MST. All entrants will be added to the Soybu email newsletter and will be sent a 25% off coupon so if you don’t win, you can at least enjoy a discount! And if you’re in the Denver area, stop by the Soybu flagship store in Greenwood Village! (Intersection of Orchard and University).

DISCLOSURE: The outfit photographed was provided to me at no cost but I was not otherwise compensated for this post; I really loved the clothing and the fact they are Colorado grown and wanted to share the love!

lynne petre

adventures outdoors, in food and through life

Getting Back Into It: Running

Watching a Bengals Game in Steelers Country

Fall Colors in the Midwest

A Colorado-Style Bachelorette Party

A Healthier Brownie Recipe That Still Tastes Legit (Seriously)

Welcome to LynnePetre.com

Pittsburgh Hike: McConnell’s Mill State Park

Trip Report: Swanson’s Arete, Multipitch Climbing in Eldo Canyon

Currently, September

Gear Review: Soybu Clothing