Dang!

Last night in my internet surfage, I happened upon a new online store that was geared towards the active muslimah. It didn't have much yet - 2 shirts and a swimsuit - but it was only a few weeks old, and will probably put more up later. It looks like the stuff is from Indonesia, which is uber cool. The hijabi fashions there are awesome, but up until now, I hadn't found any place online that sold them.

Only problem? I didn't save the link, and my googling isn't turning anything up. Dang!

However, in related news, it looks like the hijabi swimwear industry is taking off. I still *heart* my splashgear, and will most likely buy from them again once I loose enough weight (inshaAllah) to get need a smaller size. 10 pounds down, 25 to go!

Scarves for the active hijabi

Ok, I'm trying hard not to get tooooo excited here. As I've blogged about in the past, it's a constant struggle to find modest clothes to run in. Finding a scarf that doesn't overheat my head has been the hardest. I'm currently using a light cotton scarf that breathes, but it keeps all the sweat in, rather than wicking it away like specialty fabrics do. So at the end of a run, my head is soaking, yuck!

I even tried to make my own al amirah out of an old running shirt, but alas, after I cut the fabric, I remember I couldn't sew.


But, those days of worrying may be behind me. I came across a website from Canada this morning called Queendom Hijabs. According to their website:

We cater to the active woman, the one who runs the marathons, hits the gym, goes to school, holds her job, all while still looking modest and stylish. The focus is on function. We want each hijab to move with you without having to re-adjust and restyle.

Oooo, it's almost too good to be true! The only thing I'm worried about is that they look kinda short, and I need a scarf that provides funner coverage in the collar bone area. Since I wear larger men's shirts for modesty reasons, the neck hole is usually larger, and I have a hard time finding scarves that stay put and cover. But, I suppose I could always sew the neck hole smaller. Even someone who can't sew couldn't screw that up right?


*updated* I ordered this one:




Runner's fit


Fits all
Modern crisp and clean
Light
Absorbant layer undeneath crown
Complements your sports clothing



Well, I'm not sure about the last once, since my pants are gray and my shirt is black, but it will definately lighten things up a bit.

I may also get this one that's advertised as highly breathable later on.

I asked the site owner about the length of the scarves, and she said that they're longer than they appear in the picture. It should be long enough to cover the top of the chest down to the top of the boosoms area, so inshaAllah that will be good enough to cover the large neck holes of my running shirts.

*happy dance*

Reporter falls short in hijab sauna story

Via Rolled up Trousers by way of Sunni Sister

Yet that's not how the journalist at the local newspaper in Oxford, the Oxford Mail, decided to approach the issue. Her article was titled "Row over fully dressed woman in sauna". The main interview in the article was with Ian Caldwell, the man who verbally attacked me in the lobby. There was no attempt to find out the full story. A so-called "Muslim community leader" called Taj Hargey called it "political correctness gone crazy".

At no point had the journalist contacted me. She seemed to have decided to take a similar approach to the man in the swimming pool - talking about me, not to me. As did David Lloyd's, which had backed up his story without consulting me. At no point did they bother to inform me, a paying member, that such an article was being written. I contacted the Oxford Mail, offering them my side of the story. I never heard back.

Of course, that would have destroyed the theme of the article. Nobody in Oxford would be interested in new swimming suits with hi-tech material, but a crazy Muslim woman jumping into a pool fully clothed and potentially suffocating in the sauna was much more interesting. Since when have facts been important to journalists covering stories involving Muslims?

Alhamdulilah, I haven't had any international sensation news stories written about me when I go swimming at the local Y. Maybe someone will write one when I finish a marathon (currently training for a half, planning on a full in 2009), but I would hope they would have the decency to interview me. Heck, I hope they interview me.

I think I"m going to use the sauna this weekend at the gym...

Hijabed running

Finding proper running attire for a hijabi is a never ending quest. Running isn't a sport known for modest apperal. Runners tend to peel off layers as it gets hotter, ending up in short shorts and a sports bra. For hijabis, that's not really an option, unless you're running inside on a treadmill. And, I'm not a big fan of teadmill running. I prefer the great outdoors, and running in road races. Running slowly, I should hasten to add, but still running never the less.

I'm constantly adding and subtracting pieces from my wardrobe. This past weekend, I went running shoe shopping (yaay, new shoes!), and found what may be the perfect hijabi running shirt, at least for a person my size. It's a men's Mizuno Renegade VI XL long sleeve shirt, very very lightweight, in grey with green stripes. They had the same shirt in white with blue stripes, but alas, white tends to be a little see through. The best part is that it was clearenced. $19.99, huzzah! *side note* While searching for a picture to add to this post, I found a bunch more of this style. *must...stop...self...from...buying...more*

I like to shop in the men's section for shirts instead of in the women's section for one reason - fit. Women's sports tops tend to be very fitted, tight across the chest, and stop above the hips. Men's shirts tend to be looser all around, AND if you buy them large enough, they hang down to mid-thigh. If you're like me, you'll have to shorten the sleeves, but it's better than running in a long sleeve cotton shirt. I'd been doing that recently at the gym. Yuck! The sweat clings to the shirt, you get stinky, and you're never cool.


Here's my current running outfit:



Lycra Al Amirah in black or grey from HijabWorld - while the lycra is much better than cotton (wet soggy mess), it's still a little hot. I may expirment soon with wearing a buff as the underscarf part




Mizuno Renegade VI shirt



Black and Grey Capris from Target. Because I have such short, stubby legs, at my current pants size, capris are as long as regular pants for me. inshaAllah when (if) I lose weight, I'll fit length wise in regular sports pants.

Aaaaand, my new babies, my new shoes - Mizuno Women's Inspire 3. I *heart* them. My feet *heart* them. My toes *heart* them. I picked out my last pair of shoes myself. Baaaad idea. I didn't know anything about overprotinating, supinating, support, control, and whatnot. I picked out what was comfy on the clearence rack of DSWs. If you're considering running, do yourself a favor and head over to a specialty running shop. Have a knowledgable salesperson fit your feet and get a shoe that supports your foot type. Your feet will thank you.


If anyone out there is a hijab-ed runner, drop me a line. I'd like to find other muslimahs out there who run.

Ow!

A word of advice:

Never make up a dozen prayers in a row and then go out for a run. My thighs still hurt 2 days later.

Burn baby burn

My mind works in weird ways.

I wish I had read this piece from Umm Zaid that has the most important piece of advice a convert can ever get. Astaghfirullah, being regular with salat is not something that has come easily to me. But, alhamdulilah, I finally buckled down last night and calculated all the prayers I need to make up. If you're not regular about prayers, sit down and figure out how many you missed. You'll probably be shocked at how quickly they add up.

So, after maghrib, I made intentions to make up one missed maghrib prayer. After that one, I was starting to get in a groove. So I did another...and another...and another...

And this is where my mind starts working in weird ways. After quite a few rakat, I was starting to feel a burn in my legs. After the prayer, I headed off to the Y to run for awhile. While I was chugging along, I thought "I wonder what kind of exercise benefits we have in salat? It's a little bit of strength training and stretching, with all the prostrating. I wonder how many calories one burns?"

I tend to obsess about things. My current obsession is fitness for the love of fitness. So naturally, I'm now obsessing over how many calories one burns while making salat, lol.

My legs are really tender today. I know it's not just from running, since it hasn't hurt like this since waaaay back when I first started running in 05. The combination of salat and running was an excellent workout. What a wonderful extra benefit we get from worshiping our Lord!

:(

Please excuse my self centered moping post with a lack of much real islamic content.

I'm moping today. I went to the doctor for what I thought was a follow up appointment in regards to my allergies and whatnot, and low and behold, I'm diagnosed with asthma. Dang. I went from no medicine at the beginning of December to a whole cupboard full today. I can't keep track of a pair of mittens. How on earth will I not lose 2 inhalers?

Also, even better, it's triggered by the cold. Good thing I live in Minnesota, eh, cuz we never get any cold here. I suppose it could be worse. It could be exercise indused, and that would suck. Alhamdulilah, I can keep up my exercise (lost 4 pounds since I was at the doctor's in mid December, subhanAllah). The doctor even said that it may increase my exercise capacity! I have this dream of running a marathon some day (hijab and all), but I've kinda hit a wall at 3 miles. I hope that's been due to my breathing issues and not just the fact that I'm not an athlete. inshaAllah these inhalers will be a blessing and help me push for my goal of 26.2 miles.

I'm planning on doing a massive overview of the burqini coverage that seems to be all the news rage this last week. I did get my own swimsuit from Splashgear earlier this week, and I'm lovin it. I did laps on Tuesday and I'm planning on swimming again tonight. I'll do a full review of that too.

But now, I'm just going to mope.

Oh, and from "Reflections of Pearls, a concise & comprehensive collection of prophetic invocations & prayers" compiled by Inam Uddin & Ubdur-Rahman Ibn Yusuf, this supplication:

When feeling helpless regarding a matter:

Hasbiya 'Llahu wa ni'ma 'la-wakil

Allah is my sufficiency, and how perfect a benefactor [is He]

from Abu Dawud

Burqini lifeguards

The water is calling. I can't wait to go swimming.


I'm excited to see that Sister Aheda's Ahiida swimsuits are getting lots of press. The most recent article is found in the January 9th ediction of Christian Science Monitor, and is about Aussie hijabi lifeguards.

The only beef I have with the article is this:

The group's trainer, Tony Coffey, says the burqini makes swimming more difficult compared with being dressed in a bikini or swimsuit. "It's the biggest hurdle the girls face. But we can't do anything about it, it's part of the deal. They just need more intensive training."

If someone is going to be a lifeguard, they better be a strong enough swimmer to be able to swim with some extra clothes. When I took lifeguarding training a decade ago, we had to swim for an entire hour, no stopping, wearing jeans and sweatshirts to prove our strength before they even let us into the class. And from what i understand, these swimsuits don't drag a person down, especially if they're a good swimmer. I'll let ya'll know when I test mine out (huzzah!).

Kudos to the hijabi sisters getting out there and getting things done. If you enjoy swimming yourself, please consider patronizing some of our entrapanurial sisters out there, like Sister Aheda or the Sister at SplashGear.

New Year, Same 'ol Goals

Predictably, I've made some goals to accomplish this year. In the dunya side of things, I'm eating breakfast at least 4 times a week, because, um apparently, it's good for you. I'm also going swimming once a week, and to the gym 3 days a week. We get a deal at the local Y through our health insurance, but we have to go 12 times a month, or no deal. Thus, because I'm cheap, I'm forced to exercise or pay big $$$. Huzzah!

Slightly deen-y related, I'm in contact with the lady who runs the SplashGear website about getting some swimpants custom fit for my short stubby legs. She has been uber nice and responded to all of my questions with lengthy and informative answers. She gets an A++++ in the customer service department from me. Once I get the swimsuit and take it for spin, I'll give a full review.

It's been forever since I've gone swimming. I passed through the highest level of swim lessons our school district had to offer and passed the life guarding test at the youngest age I could take it. I wasn't a particularly fast swimmer - I was on the swim team for one year before I figured out I was really really slow - but I could swim for hours without getting tired. I loved being in the water. Unfortunately, after I took a job as a lifeguard, I developed very strong self conscious feelings about how I looked in a swimsuit. I wasn't fat. I was just a little on the chubby side, but all the other life guards were svelte athletes.

So, I didn't sign up to lifeguard again. I stopped swimming. A few years passed, and I converted to Islam and after that, started wearing hijab. I attempted to go to sisters only swimming sessions, but whenever I went, no one else was there.

Hijabi geared swimwear has been popping up, and I've been looking for something decent. The turkish stuff looks a wee bit too much like a rain coat for me, while ahiida looks pretty good, but it's really expensive coming from Australia. I do believe though, that I've come upon the perfect swimwear at the SplashGear website. I'm getting this outfit in black (I think), although I'm now wavering between that and this navy blue. Anyone have any thoughts?

Ok, totally deen-y, my goal this year is to learn all the surahs that MountHira creates tutorials for. I also have arabic on my plate again. I've dabbled in it before, taking a semester in college, and attempting to teach myself, but I've forgotten just about everything. inshaAllah husband will be helping me this time around :)

Just do it (in hijab)

During the 2004 Olympics, there were a spate of articles about muslimah athletes competing in the games. One of those profiled was Ruqaya Al Ghasara, a Bahraini runner who ran wearing hijab.

Ruqaya continues to kick butt on the international level. She just won the gold in the 200 m and the bronze in the 100 m at the Asian Games.

I do wear hijab, but I don't like to get involved in the whole hijab discussion that is popular in online and real world muslim circles. Scratch that, I enjoy discussion hijab styling and hijabi fashion, but I'm not one to get involved in the whole "must pressure all muslimahs to wear it and if you don't, you suck" thing. I do, however, love to see a hijabi suceed. At a time when positive press for Islam is rare, the image of a hijabi blowing away the competition and then making sujood to thank God for her victory is a sight for sore eyes. SubhanAllah!
When I first started running a year ago, I searched high and low for other hijabi runners out there. I found a picture of Ruqaya from the 04 Olympics and pasted it to the door for inspiration. Now I have a ton of pictures to add, and inshaAllah many more when other muslimahs are inspired to get out there and just do it.

It looks like there were other hijabi athletes at the Asian games as well, mainly from Iran Woo!

Iran's Mina Porseifi Jahankhanomlou at the back of the pack of the 1500m finals. I *heart* her top. I've looked high and low for a slightly longer sports top and have always come up empty.