Slippage

Tomorrow is the 5k. I will finish. Maybe not with a great time, but I will finish barring any unforeseen issues.

Let me speak to an issue that I've realized is very important while I've been training for this: clothing.

Now, I'm not one who is big on clothing. Jeans, hoodies, sweatshirts, maybe t-shirts in the summer. That's my normal mode. But when one is running, clothing suddenly becomes important. Or at least for me.

#1 Important Clothing Piece: Bra. Not just any bra, but a good bra. A bra that makes your boobs look good will not do. What happens when one wears a bra that makes your boobs look good while running? Well, your boobs will pop out, particularly if you have big boobs. One might then logically look toward sports bras. Just as a warning, all sports bras are not made the same. 

#2 Important Clothing Piece: Pants that don't fall down or ride up. Sweatpants fall down (at least on me). Yoga pants fall down (at least on me). Running shorts ride up (at least on me). I have not had one satisfying experience with running in pants. They all suck, or I pick ill-fitting pants. I think part of my problem is that I put my phone into my pants if I don't have a jacket pocket. The phone weighs down my pants, which starts the slippage process.

#3 Important Clothing Piece: Jacket with pockets that zip for your phone/iPod. Self-explanatory.

#4 Good underwear. I must have been smoking crack a year ago when I bought several pairs of boy short underwear. Of course you can't try on underwear before you buy them, but did I have to buy 82 pairs of these stupid underwear on a lark? It felt like I bought that many; I'm sure it was really a more reasonable number like 8. Anyway, they are stupid. First of all, I'm not a boy. I'm a girl, and I don't know why it's en vogue to wear things that are supposed to fit a boy. Second of all, they are stupid. They have a lot of material on the outside of your hips that gets wadded up, rolled down, etc. Third of all, they move a lot, particularly when running.

This could all go back to my ill-fitting pants problem. Perhaps I always pick out improperly sized underwear and pants.

Now I must tell you about the day I did the run where I violated all of these clothing tenets. I usually violate at least one of them just because it's hard to keep it all straight, and the clothing learning curve was quite steep.

Cute, non-functional bra + boy short underwear that started to fall down + sweatpants (that I might have worn while I was pregnant) + no jacket. I was a freaking mess trying to put my boobs back in, pulling up my underwear, pulling up pants, back to boob maintenance, hike up those pants...all while running! 

I did learn some things, as in I know what jacket I like to wear, I know what bra I need to wear, I know what underwear I need to wear. But I still haven't figured out the pants. The shorts ride up, the sweatpants and yoga pants fall down. Now I realize why people wear those tight pants that resemble thick leggings. But I wouldn't feel comfortable in those because of my huge amount of body issues soooooooo.... I'm still working on it.