Saying Goodbye to Sticky Shirts

In my last post, I talked about my running and eating goals.  But I have other goals as well, like having my husband earn enough money so I can just run and exercise and sleep all day; buy all the puppies, and finally getting around to finishing that Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time game I started in 2002.  While all of those goals are heavily idealistic, there is one running-related goal I would like to accomplish before I ruin my knees like everyone says I will with all this running I do: run a race in just a sports bra and shorts.

And socks and shoes too...duh.

Why the serious look in that pic above?  Because I am dead serious about accomplishing this goal, even though I have a waist that was built for Mom jeans rather than for sexy low-rise ones.  This is something I have this strange compunction to do to make myself feel more comfortable in my own skin--getting more comfortable in my skin by showing more skin, with a huge emphasis on the comfortable.  I wish I could say this goal of mine was part of a greater plan to inspire other women to take back all of the shame we're made to feel about our bodies if they're a different shape and/or size from what's considered beautiful....but really this is just about my comfort during a run.  Really.  I'm just really really tired of having sweaty shirts stick to me and outline the contours of my belly fat rolls.  I mean, c'mon--I'd rather just people see those rolls in all their super not-tan-ultra-white-blinding glory than have a shirt stick to me for the 20 out of the 26.2 miles of a marathon.

I know you're jealous of my arm tan gradient.

But if this does inspire you to throw off the shackles of sticky running clothing and society's obsession with unrealistic body images for women, then I'm totally down with that.  I know I was inspired to do this by other runners who aren't afraid to be seen in their own skin...and I decided it was more than time for me to ditch this body image hang-up.  (And not have shirts stick to me...buh)

Anyway, when will this sports bra-and-shorts-only race take place?  Well, I have a tune-up half marathon scheduled in the middle of July in a nearby town...and since it will be, you know, July in Illinois, it's going to be hot.  So I thought that might be a good goal race to bare my belly to the world in all its sweaty glory.  Will I be glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone and got this goal accomplished? Of course.  Will I be free of sticky running shirts?  Yep.  Will I be afraid to look at my race pics afterwards?  You betcha.  But I'll probably be too busy worrying about my race time to even remember I have no shirt on.

But remember the learnings?  Here they are:

• I know everyone was probably worried about this, but I will most definitely blog after that tune-up race.
• And yes, I will include race pics.  That actually show me running, and not other people.
• You know what sucks about having a Mom jeans waist?  Any running shorts you have on pulled up to your natural waist makes it look like your shorts are trying to also be a sports bra.
• FYI--just having a Mom jeans waist sucks in general.
• I'm going to apologize right now for the blindingly white belly you're going to see in those race pics so I don't forget to do it later.

Upcoming workouts: Tempo runs and speed at paces way faster than what I think they should be...more on those later.