Not-so-secret confession: I take my running gear pretty seriously. Not as seriously as I take things like social justice or or public health, but since movement is integral to my whole being, by proxy I care a lot about anything that facilitates me being able to train and train well.
The right gear can make all the difference. But perhaps more importantly, the wrong gear can really interfere, making even a short outdoor run annoying, unenjoyable, or even worse, painful!
Now, I’m a leggings girl through and through—yes, even before the pandemic. They’re comfy, they don’t ride up even when my legs rub together, they suck up sweat before it drips into my socks, and there’s less chance of chafing. But once the spring or summer rolls around, even my tried-and-true leggings become a little less appealing, and my running shorts get their one shining moment.
Not just any running shorts, though. I’m very picky about the running shorts I choose—but there’s good reason for it.
Here’s the thing: I sweat A LOT, especially when it comes to any training of the cardio variety. I get sopping wet, so much so that it looks like I just dove into the pool. This is very much why the right gear matters.
Not only is running in sweaty shorts uncomfortable, but it also exacerbates fit issues, which means I can spend way too much time tugging them down, hoisting them up, or generally just trying to make them sit right. I don’t want to have to touch my shorts at all. So I look for shorts that simply stay put, do their job, and let me do mine.
And this, for me, has been much harder than it may seem. I’ve had the great misfortune of being out on a run and having to pull shorts up every few minutes as they start to sag, alternating with pulling them down as they start to ride up, and the extra bonus of having to stop running to wring them out every 20 to 30 minutes because they aren’t able to wick enough of my sweat. Even worse than that is when one or all of those factors leave me with (sometimes bloody!) scrapes from chafing.
All around not awesome, especially considering that running for me is a moving meditation, especially when I’m out for a run in the trails or on the hills. I don’t want to be distracted by anything—not by my phone, not by hunger or dehydration, not by a snake, not by unaware drivers, not by my sweat, not by my clothing, not by my legs chafing. I have very little control over any of these things, with the exception of what I choose to wear. So, yeah, I’m picky about running shorts.