Summers are brutal in South Florida. The weather goes from warm to unbearably hot and the sunshine is punctuated by afternoon storms that resemble trailers for an upcoming hurricane. The season consists of being constantly soaked, from sweat or rain, on a daily basis. Whenever I meet people who move to Miami during or right before the start of summer (like I did in 1999), I share words of encouragement about how they will love living here if they can just survive summer.
After nearly 20 years of living here, I have figured out many things about making it through South Florida summers. For example, I’ve learned that I should not turn on my hazards when driving through a downpour, rather I should turn on my lights and drive carefully. I’ve also learned to dress in layers so I can transition smoothly from the sauna outside to the A/C powered arctic indoors. And, I’ve certainly learned not to leave my car parked anywhere but the shade unless I want to burn my hands on the steering wheel.
Surprisingly, one summer situation I hadn’t solved until recently was the notion of exercising outdoors in this sweltering heat. Last year when I was training for the Paris Marathon I really struggled to log the miles I needed to keep up with my training plan without collapsing of a heat stroke after 6 miles, even when I brought a water belt. It is just too hot and too sunny from June through September. It is already hard enough to motivate myself into 12 mile runs without the added discomfort brought forth by 100-degree heat and the need to cake on sunscreen.
At the end of last year, I discovered an athletic clothing brand called IBKUL that has unlocked my outdoor exercising potential during summer. Not only do their clothes meet the discerning sartorial standards of my South Beach neighbors—seriously, I have to dress like I’m walking down an athleisure catwalk to fit my neighborhood’s exercising aesthetic—with their cute prints but they use a patented fabric that keeps the body cool, dry and protected from the sun. I own their floral print long sleeve polo (similar here) and solid crystal pleat skort and I love putting it on because it keeps me from becoming a hot, disgusting mess of sunscreen and sweat when I go outside and thereby is my secret weapon for surviving South Florida summers. (P.S. They just announced a new summer collection!)
