Shopping! *ding*

(You should be imagining the sound effects from WBLM's Morning Show when you read that title.)

I bought myself some running clothes today. I was actually amazed at the difficulty that I had in finding a pair of spandex. I mean, come on, spandex are the most common, simple item. They go great under my cute Terry skirts and they protect me against the infamous "chub rub".

We all know me (more or less), and we've all seen me. So we all know that I am not a tiny, hard-bodied chick. I'm more on the Rubenesque side of things, but even when I am at my most slender, most light-weight, my thighs still touch. I've seen the women (you see them on the covers of magazines all the time -- Hell, I saw one running down the trail ahead of me today) whose legs don't touch even when their feet do. They have what we call "skinny legs". If you have skinny legs, you can wear a pair of running shorts (that cover almost none of your legs) without any ill effects. However, when I wear running shorts (or any shorts) and then move my legs quickly, the flesh on my thighs invariably rubs together. Do this long enough, and it gets painful. This, my friends, is the aforementioned chub rub. Like rug burn, except you still have to run your aching muscles, burning lungs, and now smarting legs home before you can do anything about it. Fun, huh?

And it's never going to go away. Ever. I will always have chunky legs. It's just how I'm made. I am resigned to this fact. I will never wear skinny jeans. Pants from Forever 21 will never fit. That's just the way it is. I'm OK with this. But I need spandex to run in shorts. Otherwise, I don't run. Now, I had a pair back in high school. I had two pair, actually. One of them disappeared (my favorite pair, sadly -- damn, those things fit great) but I thought I still had the other pair. But, I couldn't find them yesterday. It seems that all my spandex shorts now how chamois in the crotch -- which is great for cycling, but a bit of an overkill for running.

So I took my 20% coupon and my dividend down to REI today to find a pair of spandex shorts. After canvassing the whole woman's section, I found one display of spandex shorts that had a chamois in the crotch (but really lightweight -- I guess they are for triathalons), one display of name brand capri spandex, and one display of REI-brand capri spandex. After tracking down a saleswoman who did find the correct size for me in the back, I opted for the REI version. They're prety sweet, actually. They have a zip pocket across the lower back and some reflective strips along the legs. But they are capris, so they will get warm come summer. Maybe I'm just too early, but it seems like now is the time to get the summer gear on the racks.

Anyway, I took my newly purchased capris over to my county park and hit the trails. (I also dusted off my super-cute Terry skirt with the black and red swirly design, finding $1 in the pocket while I was at it.) It was another run-walk. Lots of walking on the up, lots of running on the down. I was out for about 90 minutes and had some great views on the way down. I could see all the way to the ocean. It was very, very beautiful.

I think part of the reason (besides being out-of-shape and sheer laziness) why I walk on these runs is because I do enjoy hiking. When I hit the woods, I WANT to walk. Oh well. Gotta get over that if I'm going to RUN 13 miles.