Flow State

Words: Emmmie Collinge

Photography: Phil Gale

When you grow up with older siblings, you get accustomed to being happy with hand-me-downs.

And I largely still am.

Especially when it involves quality sports kit.

You see, I run a lot, giving it as much thought as if it were a part-time job (and at times, that’s what it is). I run before the sun comes up, after it has gone down, and at all times in between. Working from home means sometimes I get the luxury of avoiding the rain – other times, still blurry with sleepy eyes, I make sure my head torch is charged and I rush to get back in time to meet a deadline. It’s still good to run though.

My love affair with SOAR'S men’s kit started with a turquoise gilet that I borrowed from my boyfriend and wore proudly for an entire autumn, winter and right through to spring. That was more than five years ago.

In the years since, there have been evolutions of gilets, multiple caps, and socks that have made their way into my wardrobe. When my boyfriend couldn’t squeeze into a pair of XS tights, I claimed them and immediately felt like a superhero. I leaned into the flow state and decided that these tights would be my fast tights from now on. As summer rolled around, I inherited two pairs of men’s XS race shorts that I rarely took off – they had such a barely-there feel that I forgot I was wearing them half the time. I didn’t think things could get much better than those shorts.

That was until the earliest prototype of the women’s tights arrived. Height, limb length, how we move our bodies, where I want the waist to sit – it was all there, fractionally different in the construction but monumentally different in the actual movement. Hell, this was a different kind of flow state.

I’d got my own tights. I didn’t have to use borrowed ones anymore. Same with the vest and shorts, which feel like the fastest outfit I’ve ever owned.

Now I’m waiting for my own gilet and the Ultra rain jacket, so, Tim, if you’re listening…

The Women's Race Capsule is available now. The SOAR Women's Autumn/Winter collection is coming soon.