ComaBoy Running
Runner, Diabetic and Waffler
fashion
A call to bring the fun back into running
15/07/09 17:15 Filed in: running
I started off as all first timers do with a baggy shirt, old shorts and white socks and these quite merrily got me by for the first few months of my fledgling running career. Blue tops were mixed with red shorts, faded bands from long forgotten concerts rubbed up against brash Bermuda shorts and not a second thought was given to style. It felt great just to be out in the open.
We're creatures of inquisitive temptation however. It starts with something innocuous - perhaps a technical tops, maybe some shorts or simply a pair wicking socks - but quickly you're hooked. Cottom is simply no longer good enough and soon we're needing compression, water belts, gel packs and a thousand other additions. Once addicted I didn't know where to stop. I ended up being dressed in so much black Lycra that I looked like a gay Nazi Power Ranger!
We have to be frank and say that Lycra is no friend to those with an extra inch to give and the blind generosity to give it. Who of us hasn't seen the bouncing pendulous buttocks of a super-sized runner and dared ask if we also have a rear that also resembles two ageing amorous sea-lions? How must we look from such an angle we've asked?
Let me tell you and let me be brutally honest...quite simply you look awful. Simply awful. It's not your fault; I look awful too! We all look awful! In fact, there's no-one for which Lycra was their signature style and there's not one of the six billion people on Earth for which Lycra will ever be the first choice. It's too harsh. It strips back. It lethally reveals. It does everything to expose and embarrass the things we otherwise go to such pains to hide.
But we can't blame Lycra for all of these sins. It plays its role and has become a vital part of any runners wardrobe. It's a great material for doing all the things that active people want it to do and it does them so ruthlessly well. Anyone who has run in a wicking top would never choose to go back to a heavy cotton t-shirt.
But is it purely function over form? There's no doubt that it's a great material but I think it's more than that. It's a badge of honour and a statement that we've arrived. There's no doubting the snobbish voyeurism of it all; the very fact that it reveals and shouts so loudly is the perverse reason we wear it. As we run through the park it's telling the old us that we've changed and those around us that we mean business. It's all about pace, splits, max and min, bpm and in a lot of ways - and it's a hushed secret - it's just not as fun as when we just ran for the pure joy of it.
Don't get me wrong, I still love running and all the techno-wizardry adds much to it but I can't help feeling that I've lost a bit by becoming a 'Lycra Whore'. A call to arms therefore and a promise to the old me - you were wheezy, you were slow and frankly you were a bit of a slob - but you also didn't care what people thought and you did ran for the fun of it. There's a lot I am thankful to have left in the past but the next time I run, I think a little of the old me should come along for the ride. For one weekend therefore, you and I are going to forget about training and run for the simple fun of it. Union Jack shorts and ACDC top....you're time has come again!
We're creatures of inquisitive temptation however. It starts with something innocuous - perhaps a technical tops, maybe some shorts or simply a pair wicking socks - but quickly you're hooked. Cottom is simply no longer good enough and soon we're needing compression, water belts, gel packs and a thousand other additions. Once addicted I didn't know where to stop. I ended up being dressed in so much black Lycra that I looked like a gay Nazi Power Ranger!
We have to be frank and say that Lycra is no friend to those with an extra inch to give and the blind generosity to give it. Who of us hasn't seen the bouncing pendulous buttocks of a super-sized runner and dared ask if we also have a rear that also resembles two ageing amorous sea-lions? How must we look from such an angle we've asked?
Let me tell you and let me be brutally honest...quite simply you look awful. Simply awful. It's not your fault; I look awful too! We all look awful! In fact, there's no-one for which Lycra was their signature style and there's not one of the six billion people on Earth for which Lycra will ever be the first choice. It's too harsh. It strips back. It lethally reveals. It does everything to expose and embarrass the things we otherwise go to such pains to hide.
But we can't blame Lycra for all of these sins. It plays its role and has become a vital part of any runners wardrobe. It's a great material for doing all the things that active people want it to do and it does them so ruthlessly well. Anyone who has run in a wicking top would never choose to go back to a heavy cotton t-shirt.
But is it purely function over form? There's no doubt that it's a great material but I think it's more than that. It's a badge of honour and a statement that we've arrived. There's no doubting the snobbish voyeurism of it all; the very fact that it reveals and shouts so loudly is the perverse reason we wear it. As we run through the park it's telling the old us that we've changed and those around us that we mean business. It's all about pace, splits, max and min, bpm and in a lot of ways - and it's a hushed secret - it's just not as fun as when we just ran for the pure joy of it.
Don't get me wrong, I still love running and all the techno-wizardry adds much to it but I can't help feeling that I've lost a bit by becoming a 'Lycra Whore'. A call to arms therefore and a promise to the old me - you were wheezy, you were slow and frankly you were a bit of a slob - but you also didn't care what people thought and you did ran for the fun of it. There's a lot I am thankful to have left in the past but the next time I run, I think a little of the old me should come along for the ride. For one weekend therefore, you and I are going to forget about training and run for the simple fun of it. Union Jack shorts and ACDC top....you're time has come again!
A runner at the London Marathon takes up my call!
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