My favorite things: The Nuu-Muu dress

I've been trying to figure out exactly what I want to wear while running for 7-8 hours over the Great Wall of China.  Here's what I need (or what I would really, really like):

1. For purely practical purposes, I need something that won't chafe or otherwise annoy the crap out of me and is made of wicking/quick-dry fabric.  
2. I want to feel like I look good in whatever it is that I wear. Because I'm a chick that cares more about these things than I wish I did.
3. I'm going to have to fit everything I need for this race and 2.5 weeks of general traveling in a small backpack.  So being able to wear my race outfit outside of the race itself would be pretty sweet.

Well, thanks to the inordinate amount of time I spend window-shopping on the internet, I found the perfect thing.  It's not just the perfect thing to race in - it's my new favorite piece of clothing ever.

Ladies, it's time to get yourself acquainted with the unfortunately-named Nuu-Muu dress.  Aside from the name making me thing of cows and fugly Hawaiian dresses, it's amazing.  It's incredibly comfortable to run in (I wear shorts with it), it looks great, it dries in no time, and there's not a single thing on it that rubs or sits funny or otherwise provokes my ire.

And it really does work for everything.  I've worn it running.  Out dancing. To the grocery store.  On a plane. Over shorts.  Over jeans.  They say you can swim in it, but I haven't done that yet. Perhaps I should test it in the shower like I did with this jacket. 

I absolutely love this thing.  I want to hug it and squeeze it and call it George. 

I ordered mine online, but there are stores throughout the country that sell them, as well.  Nuu-Muu makes a regular dress for $75, and they make ones with a pocket in the back for $85.  I was pretty hesitant to spend that much money on such a seemingly simple garment, but it was completely worth it. The website offers tons of colors and patterns, but of course, I was super boring and got the plain black one.  They currently only offer the dress in small, medium, and large, but I read somewhere that they have plans to expand their sizing.

With this and my favorite pair of plain black running shorts, I feel set for China.  Well, for the clothing part, at least.  I still have a lot of running to do in the next month.  And if you spot me out running, I'll probably be wearing my Nuu-Muu dress.