Spandex: It's a Privilege, Not a Right

I read that quote on someone's email signature about 15 years ago, and it has stuck with me. It is applicable to today's entry, and came back to me as I was running.

Today is Wednesday, which means it is run with my training partner day. I spent the entire day trying to talk myself out of calling him to cancel. I haven't felt that great lately. I feel like I have been fighting, with every ounce of strength I have, not to come down with the flu. It seems to be running rampant recently. One of my coworkers was out sick with it today. I'm still holding it at bay, but I just feel off.

On top of that, I can count on one hand the number of times that I have been headache free in the last two weeks. That is typical for this time of the year. The new growing season combined with the rainy spring weather is a bad combo for me. My doctor wants to put me on daily preventive migraine meds, but I have been resisting. I already feel like you could stock a small pharmacy with the medications, vitamins, and supplements I take. I'm starting to feel like a drug addict. Not to mention the cost. Self-employed, pay for it yourself, heath insurance pretty much sucks when it comes to drug coverage. So, for now, I live with it and grumble to the masses.

I came home and grudgingly put on my running clothes and began my Wednesday ritual of picking up my house while waiting for my training partner, and my phone starts ringing. Hmm. So, I answer it and it is him........calling to tell me that he has, guess what? Yep, the flu! So, he isn't going to make it to run.

Ok, great. I'm already dressed and really should run, but I have no one to force me to go. So, I made a deal with myself. All I had to do was lace up my shoes and start moving. That's it. I could stop whenever I'd had enough. With that comfort leading me on, I went out to begin my run. So, I'm standing in my driveway waiting for my Garmin to acquire it's GPS satellite signal, and it was taking forever. The longer I stood there, the more I started to feel the heat. I decided that I was extremely over dressed in my tanktop and pants. So, I headed back inside to put on shorts.

In my world, the need to run in shorts constitutes a minor tragedy. I H-A-T-E, hate, running in shorts. No matter what I do, they ride up over my inner thighs to create a nice unattractive bulge, and expose the lovely flab that I can never seem to get rid of at the top of my inner thighs. No matter how much weight I lose or how many inner leg lifts I do or how many miles I run, the bulges remain. The only solution I have yet to find is to run in spandex bike shorts. After a few minutes the sweat makes the spandex stick to me, and they don't ride up. However, I do not feel that I should subject my neighbors and the passing motorists to the unsightly appearance of my cellulite and flab stuffed into spandex. So, I usually reserve my spandex shorts for my night runs. I figure that the dark does a sufficient job of hiding their disgraceful appearance.

Anyway, I headed back out with head pounding, stomach churning, and inner thighs bulging. The run felt slow, but not bad. I only made it 2 miles. Good thing the half-marathon wasn't today! Hopefully, I'll have more energy tomorrow.