The Ladybug on how to start the day with great energy (and sleep for the next two days!)

When a friend of mine had the idea, I was very skeptical: as I missed the 5.30 morning run in Milan because I was still recovering for surgery and couldn’t run for about a month we had a second occasion to do an early morning run, the Breakfast Run organized by RDS (one of the most famous Italian radio stations) starting at 5.45 am.

I said ok anyway as I was curious about the experience, but I regretted it immediately that Friday morning when my wake-up call rang at 4.30 am!! I used to run at 7 am when I was in Dublin but 5.45 was too much for my old soul!

Somehow they brought my body and soul totally asleep to the Arco della Pace, the weather was awful and you could read on my face that I needed to sleep! I couldn’t even think that after that I needed to run back home, get quickly showered and dressed for the office instead of going back to bed and sleep!

But something happened when I started running my 5K in a wonderful town, almost empty and showing its beauty in the first morning lights. Incredibly the sun showed up, I felt a lot of energy and I finished my run with my best time on a 5K! We also enjoyed an healthy breakfast offered by the event team and I can say that I started my day full of positive energy and ready for a long day at work.

I started thinking that I should do that more often, but after lunch I started yawning and that same night I went to bed early and totally destroyed! I also spent the whole weekend sleeping and trying not to fall asleep when I went out so I guess that this is cool if you do it once but the early morning routine is definitely not for me!

The Ladybug’s autumn beauty tips: how to take care of your hair

Autumn is already here and, exception made for the nature’s color palette that I love, it brings a couple of things that I just dislike: colder and shorter days, humidity and with it all the problems related to the so-called Hair Weathering. Let’s be honest, in the last few weeks we probably all noticed a lot of changes in our hair: it is dull and opaque, it has no vitality, it is dry, frizzy and oversensitive to weather conditions. Our scalp becomes more sensitive and the first signals generally are peeling, itch and irritation.

We discussed these hair problems a couple of weeks ago with Adele Sparavigna, a dermatologist and specialist in skin sensitivity, during the third event organized by Physiogel to take care of our skin and hair and she gave us some interesting tips to control the sensitivity of our scalp especially during the coldest seasons.

The first fact is that in order to have healthy hair we must start from our scalp: sebum is our natural balm and we can control its natural production by having an healthy lifestyle, a good and equilibrated diet, a reduced use of medicines and hormones that may alter the ph of the scalp.

But we can do more when it comes to our hair washing daily routine: if it is not true that washing our hair frequently is negative, we must pay attention to the products that we use as we should prefer balanced cleansers, with acid ph, emollients and without perfumes. It is also better to avoid sink water (and to prefer still lukewarm water if possible), to use a towel after washing our hair in order to spend less time under the hairdryer, to dilute the products with water before applying them, to mass the scalp during application and to regularly vary the products that we use.

I also tried the Physiogel shampoo “Sensi Cuoio Capelluto”: I wash my hair almost every day and I need a light and delicate shampoo, especially since I live in Milan where the pollution and the weather conditions have a devastating effect on my hair! The results after two weeks are amazing: my curly hair is softer and lighter, and the itch of the past weeks has disappeared! It is perfect for frequent washings as it contains no colorants, preservatives or perfumes and I stopped using a hair balm because I didn’t feel the need anymore. It is perfect for dry hair and for those you have a sensitive scalp especially due to external factors.

The Ladybug on why Running is a serious thing: the Fluo Run in Milan

Since I started running and enjoying the loads of runs happening during the year in Milan, I started a kind of personal list of my favorite ones. Those with the best course, or the ones with the most interesting goodie bags and tees, and so on. This may be the reason why this year we are trying many different runs, just to have an idea of how they feel and to make sure that we just pick our favorite ones!

I must confess that I was not impressed by what we call the “fun runs”, meaning those runs where the funny part of it is more important than the running itself. The reason of my lack of interest was the fact that all those funny things (you getting colored with powders or you hanging around in fluorescent bracelets and heart-shaped glasses) could just distract you from your real objective: running (possibly fast). Running itself is a funny thing to me and I don’t feel the need of disguising myself to make it funnier.

This is why when my friend Marina insisted for running the Fluo Run in Milan I wasn’t sure it was a good idea but I accepted anyway just because we couldn’t run the Energizer together so it was “fun” to share a night run together in Parco Sempione.

Maybe it’s because I was distracted by the funny side of it, maybe it was the heat (and the mosquitoes) or even my fluorescent gadgets but I didn’t run my best time, even though I enjoyed the run pretty much! I must say that it was a good practice and that the Japanese food following the run was the best part of it!

Once the Fluo Run is done, now I want to see who will convince me to run the next Color Run…(hard job!)

The Ladybug runs again: Energizer Night Run in Milan

I know I’ve been talking about running and what it means (and meant) to me so I won’t start here again but let me share one of my favorite running events I attended this year in Milan, the Energizer Night Run.

This was not the first time for me as I run the Energizer last year (it was my first run ever if you don’t consider the cross-country races in the middle-school!) but it was completely new in a certain way as I enjoyed it more this year: maybe my good results, maybe the good company of my friends-colleagues or the fresh air but I really had a great time. You can never forget your first run, I guess this is the reason why the Energizer Night run is always so pleasant to me!

It is also one of the most famous running events in town, a charity run for Unicef during the night in Parco Sempione, wearing a small flashlight that illuminates the night, creating a great view in the dark, especially if you think that about 7000 people were running in the park. It’s a short one (5K) but it’s fun to see so many people of every age joining the run for a good cause!