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| I exercise because I like to eat. ... a lot. There is no other good reason I can think of. |
Something is chasing you
You are chasing something
I reached a maximum weight in 2007 and realized that I had
to do something because I was going the wrong direction. What I was doing
wasn’t working. So, I decided to do something I hated … run. Part of why I
hated running was the clothes. I hated the way I looked in running shorts … too
short. I hated the way my thighs rubbed together in those short shorts. The
alternative wasn’t much better … longer bike-style running shorts. My chubby
thighs bulged out the bottom of the tight compression. Capris were too tight in
the back of my knees. Then I discovered running skirts. Skirt Sports had lengths I
could wrap my head around. Not too short. No chub rub. The capris were breezy
and didn’t bunch in my knee pits. The compression shorts under the skirts
weren’t too tight. Chub rub was eliminated. Unsightly thigh bulges were covered
by a skirt. And, they were cute. I had an excuse to not hate … even if I didn’t
love … running. I have no fashion sense and that's fine, I wear a uniform every day. I violate the rule of not being to "matchy" when running ... but I don't care. I'm geeky that way. Running in cute outfits makes me feel like maybe I have a wee, tiny bit of fashion sense.
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| So, when Skirt Sports offered a virtual 10-miler (or 10K) to celebrate their 10th Anniversary, I was on-board. I have gone through a lot of their products over the years and changed sizes ... Yea. This is what my current collection looks like: |
I didn't know how I would do if I were running on my own, so lucky for me, I am running with a training group. We were scheduled for 8-miles, but I decided to go 10 to get in my race distance.
The week before the race, my swag arrived. Depending on what "level" of race you signed up for, you got a gift certificate for different values. My gift certificate was the same value as the cost of my virtual run, so I figured, I scored. Look at all the stuff I bought!!!
Most people were running the weekend of the anniversary. Sunday was perfect, but my legs were tired from yesterday's bike ride. I met my training group and took the obligatory "pre-race" pictures. These are some really great people and we have an amazing coach. She's really smart and motivational and encouraging for all of us ... no matter our pace. She supports us on good days and not so good days. And off we went.
We are lucky enough to have a beautiful place to run along the San Antonio Riverwalk. There was a clean bathroom ... very important for a race. And we had a water stop set up around mile 3 (and 7 on the way back). I turned around at the 5-mile marker and within a half mile, I saw a bobbing pony tail. Was that Helen? She was only supposed to do 8 miles. Last week was her longest run ever at 7.5 miles. "What are you doing?" "I didn't want you to be out here by yourself." I almost cried. We had great conversation the whole way back. She sampled her first ever snot (I mean energy gel) and I sampled her my favorite run nutrition--which isn't a gel. And told her about my favorite gel flavors.
I have lost 70 pounds and gone through multiple sizes of
skirts in the past seven years. Some people might think I have a problem with
the size of my SkirtSports collection. I think the only problem is that there is always room in my closet for one more skirt. Oh, and I got one ... my finisher Marathon Skirt ...
Oh, I found a third reason to run:
Cute running clothes
