Bras...(venting)

[OakLeaf]

I just got the new Champion Show-Off Bra, and so far, I like.

Champion changed the fabric in the bra I'd been wearing for years, to where the new ones really don't support me , so I'd been looking for something new.

I just did bridge repeats in it yesterday, for a total of 8.5 miles counting the jog to and from the bridge - so not enough to know if it'll cause problems on a real long run, but enough for first impressions, and here they are:

Rock solid encapsulation support. I've whined here before about how hard it is to find very firm support for small breasts, but this bra has it. I don't think my boobs have moved so little on a run since I was 12 years old and they were the size of apricot halves. I've never worn an encapsulation bra that really gave me any support at all, so I'm impressed. Bonus that I wasn't expecting, is that it doesn't put the pressure on my still-unstable collarbones and ribs that my old compression bras do. And I really don't care about uniboob, but for those who keep score of that, this one gives nice separation.

Room for a HRM strap underneath. That can be a deal-breaker for me with some bras. This one fits just as nicely as my old favorite. I was getting just a teensy bit of pinching with the HRM strap slide adjuster on one side, but that's more to do with my individual configuration than with the bra itself. It may chafe on long runs, it may not - we'll see.

Adjustable straps. Again, we'll see how they wear in. Strap length can be an issue for me since my boobs ride low, but there's lots of adjustment in these. First wearing, the adjusters are very stiff - impossible for me to adjust while wearing the thing, and they didn't slip at all during my run. At that distance, no chafing from the adjusters, and even though the straps are only a little wider than a day-wear bra, they're soft, and in the racerback configuration they didn't give me any trouble.

Adjustable band. This is just as valuable for the ability to partially open up the racerback for putting it on and taking it off, as for the adjustment itself. I wondered how this would look in real life, since hook-and-eye closures can make a sport top look like underwear, but I think this is one is reasonably attractive even with this closure. I don't work out without a shirt any more, but I used to, and I would've been comfortable wearing this alone. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to change my shirt in public while wearing this bra.

Concealment. Now, this leans negative for me, because I really don't care about my headlights, and any padding means it's going to need extra care in the wash and in the underwear drawer, and that it will wear out faster no matter how careful I am with it. But, I've got very prominent headlights, and this bra completely hides them. It's got little reinforced stars in the nipple area for extra concealment. There's no color show-through either in the white one that I got.

It only comes in S/M/L/XL, which means it probably won't fit anyone whose cup size is much off the average for their band size. And since the Small fits my 34-small-b self so nicely, smaller women won't find one in their size, either.