Lululemon Run A Marathon Crop II

I bought the new Lululemon Run A Marathon Crop II Pretty Palm Black Angel Wing/Black during the upload on Monday and they arrived today.  I have the original version of Run A Marathon crop and actually like them a lot even though I don't think they got very good reviews and eventually were marked down to $49 - most people complained about the waistband and leg opening being too tight.  While I do find the waist to lack stretch, the hardest part is actually pulling it over the bum lol.  Once it's over though, it stays put!  A while ago though, I noticed a hole in them which I have no idea how it occurred.  That's why I can't wear them anymore.  So when I saw the newer version in the pretty palm print, I thought how perfect!

I ordered size 4, which is what I always get in Lulu bottoms, and what I have in the original Run A Marathon crops.  When I first felt this new version though, I thought the material felt very different!  It does not feel like regular luxtreme.  I read the description which says these are made of regular luxtreme in the front and full-on luxtreme in the back.  But the whole thing just feels weird!  I don't even know how to describe it.  It feels thicker with a more slippery surface and less stretch.  They feel tighter on as a result.  Good compression though.

The fit of this new version is off on me.  While they did loosen the waist from the original version, the rise is lower, especially in the front.  It's probably the lowest rise of all my Lulu crops.  I don't even mind lower rise, but these just cut me off in a weird spot - kind of like right in the middle of the "love handle" area.  So even though the waistband is looser, it also sits at a wider spot of the body which doesn't help.   If I get a little bloaty, I just know these will not look good.  

They did also make the knee opening wider than the original version though.  But they are still shorter than most 3/4 length crops so they may be too short for someone who has longer legs than me (I'm 5'5).

I do love these big side pockets:

So these have 2 big side pockets, one zipper pocket on the back of the waist, and 2 hidden waistband pockets on both sides of the front - 5 pockets total.

Most of my Lulu crops go up to pretty close to my belly button.  It may look dorky, but they stay put.  In this photo below, this was as high as I could pull them up without creating a major camel toe, and as you can see they are still like 2 inches lower than my bully button!  I think they would also slide down.

Big mesh portion on the back of the legs:

I like this pattern, it camouflages the logo:

Another thing that bothers me about these crops and this material is that when stretched, the print looks faded and thin.  It almost looks like they are sheer and your skin color is showing through the print.  But they are actually not sheer at all, they just have a white base underneath which causes the print to look faded and sheer.

For example, this is how the print looks when I'm wearing them and just standing:

And... this is how it looks when I move my legs into a simple butterfly stretch position (this is the inner thigh area):

The area closest to the seam is stretched out the worst and shows the most fading:

Waaaaa... these crops have too many misconstructions for me to keep.  Maybe Lululemon will come out with another pair of crops in this print!  These are disappointing, but it's not like I need more crops anyway!