Today's topic is: the running skirt! Brilliant! Here's a crappy photo of me in The Skirt right before it's first trial:
Now, it's a funny thing about skirts. Women have been trying for centuries to not to have to wear skirts. 100 years ago or so, women were shocking the world by wearing pants - and if I'm not mistaken, in many countries and even cultures within the United States, women are still required to wear dresses or skirts.
But, now that most of us with two X chromosomes are free to wear whatever we want from the waist down, we have before us a marvelous opportunity! Thanks to all those brave, bold women who went before us making it so we don't have to wear skirts, we now get to wear skirts! Hooray for choices! Hooray for options! Hooray for being proud to be a girl and being able to wear skirts! I can run in anything I want from my husband's undershirts to my sassy skirt, and to me that is just fabulous.
I purchased my running skirt from Target. It's basic black, is made by Champion, and can be purchased here if you are so inclined. It hits just above the knee and has shorts underneath, a drawstring waist, and a neat little place to stash your house key.
The biggest problem I thought I would encounter is chub rub (for you skinny people out there, this is the chaffing that occurs on your upper thighs when they rub together too much on long runs) but I found that this was not a problem at all and, apart from looking way cuter, the skirt performed just like my go-to black Nike running shorts.
For those of you who have been following this blog for the last couple of weeks, you know that I readily embrace all that is feminine in the stinky, sweaty world of sports. I honestly can't figure out why it's taken me this long to purchase a skirt and sport it. I also did a little research, and found this great article from Runner's World where else, right?) and I really think it's worth reading.
It's written by this gal Kristin Armstrong and she gives a great overview of how the running skirt got started and what it's doing for women who run. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the article, so if you're in a rush and can't read it, you can still get the gist:
"Her motivation has never been just to look pretty, but to look pretty while kicking butt"
"I believe that a woman is even more powerful when she feels pretty"
"But after years of running, I figured I had earned the right, at least by miles alone, to show some leg"
And here is my favorite, which was the perfect conclusion to a great article and thus a great conclusion to this post as well:
"One of the best things about being a woman today is that we have so many options. Whether we are in the boardroom, on the home front, or on the starting line, we can bring it on like a man, but it doesn't mean we have to look like one."
Amen, sister.
women are so lame... just wear shorts like everyone else, and don't wear makeup to workout... just like men should have gel in their hair to work out or run. it's not about looking good while you work out. it's about working out to look good outside of the gym or trail.
ReplyDeletethis soooooo lame woman will run circles around you ;) keep talkin that sh*!...i'll kick your butt in a skirt with my lipstick on!
ReplyDeleteAt first glance, Mr Haas seems to have a point. After all, God made males in His animal kingdom much more colorful than females and made human females much more beautiful than human males. He obviously had a point, right? Woman, you're pretty enough; don't add to my pefection. And man...well, just take what you've got and go with it.
ReplyDeleteOn second glance, however, it seems males in the animal world don't have a corner on athletic adornment:
--how about kilts and knickers on the golf course, not to mention guys in bright pink and polk dots?
--how about professional males from all sports who wear diamonds the size of small boulders in their ears?
--tattoos, tattoos, tattoos--from head to toe? Really? All it is is permanent make-up gentlemen!
--explain the need for strategically placed mirrors in the gym if adornment isn't important! I posit they are there so said males can admire the pumped up muscles they have achieved with whatever designer protein they are chugging this month.
--And Nascar (or any other motor 'sport'). Please. Are the cars not truly extentions of their drivers? Are the cars not painted, bright, embelished and loud? Do the drivers not wear leather jumpsuits to match their cars? Image isn't important??
You get the idea. So Ashleigh. Get your pretty on all you want! Wear LaPerla (if Brando hasn't eaten it all), put the diamond studs in your ears, don your running skirt, and don't forget the lipstick!! Most of all, run fast and run far. You can DOOT!!
PS The Kristin Armstrong mentioned in the above blog entry is none other than the classy ex-wife of some guy who wrote a book called "It's Not About the Bike" then set out to show the world it actually was about the bike (and fame, and money, and celebrity) all along. She writes a blog for Runner's World called 'Mile Markers':
http://milemarkers.runnersworld.com