More on Running Fashion

I bought new shoes today at Boulder Running Company. Here they are:

Asics 2170

Asics may be my favorite brand of running attire in general. I also own a pair of their warm-up pants, a pair of arm warmers and a pair of super-soft capris that I will wear over almost anything else in my drawer unless it's really hot.

But I'm not a huge loyalist to any brand. I also bought a pair of Nike shorts (dark green) on sale for $14 (!) and was excited that the Small size fit me. I'd noticed that my shorts are all looking baggy and shapeless in race photos. I'm not fashion forward when it comes to running or anything else, but I do like to look like my clothes fit. I'm still a little worried about what my friend Kathy calls the "thigh-valanche" in race pictures (and the more thigh you show, the more likely this is--I decided NOT to include an example of me illustrating this phenomenon). But I've decided to take the chance.

Speaking of fashion, I had a discussion with the guy who fitted me for the shoes about attire in women's running. He's a running vet who described his Boston Marathon experiences back in the 70s. Summary: neither he nor I is a fan of the "swimsuit" that elite female athletes wear these days in races. We both like Desiree Davila's look much better. I don't think I'd dress in the running swimsuit even if I looked like Shalane Flanagan or Kara Goucher, which I freely admit I never will. It's their choice--maybe they do feel they run better dressed like that--but I'd feel naked.

Shalane and Desi running in the Trials. What would you wear? They both have Olympic speed and endurance.....

Did you notice the male runners don't feel they need to wear Speedos to be fast? Just sayin'.....

I'd love to hear what you think!

I'm No Fastinista (or Fashionista)

Throwing down the gauntlet here: I think this outfit is hideous.

It reminds me of some of the bad movie theaters they built in the late 90s and early 2000s--lots of eye-jarring, garish patterns and colors thrown together that will look dated in about, oh, five minutes.

It also reminds me of the outfits my four-year-old daughter emerges from her room wearing when she dresses herself. When she puts an ill-matched clown-like creation together, I commend it, because, well, she's four and she did it herself.

One of Ruthie's creations....I think she's cuter than the cover model, but I'm biased!

And what looks super-cute on a four-year-old--four-year-olds can even pull off Crocs--is VERY different, to my conservative Midwestern mind, than what looks good on an adult woman (especially adult women who are ordinary-bodied specimens like yours truly, unlike the RW cover model, who, yes, IS in fact a model, though I don't think even she can pull off the horror of the ensemble she's wearing on the cover).

Now you do have to keep in mind that my "fashion sense" is nothing of the kind. No one ever called me fashion-forward. In both running and real life, I avoid patterns, wearing only one of them at a time if I wear them at all. Black is still my favorite color, a holdover from my years in New York City. For running, I favor shorts and capris (black ones, of course) over running skirts. I will wear shirts with fun statements on them, as long as the design is simple and classy (I own and wear the Run Like a Mother shirt that asks "Are my kids still chasing me?").

But I won't wear anything that attempts to make me look or sound more badass than I actually am (who would I be fooling anyway? certainly not myself!). And I won't be a slave to ugly trends, especially not in running. I run partly to be free of the kinds of attitudes that the fashion industry feeds into. I'm not saying I don't (unfortunately) share some of these attitudes. I'd love to have the body of the RW cover model. But I recognize that this is shallow and pointless, and I hope someday to evolve to the point where I no longer care in the least what anyone thinks of my appearance, aside from whether I look and am clean and healthy. Since running and my races are important to me, and make memories I want to cherish, I'd rather have the emphasis in race photos of me be on what I'm doing than what I'm wearing.

My relative lack of emphasis on fashion is, I know, a matter of opinion. For those of you who do set more store in fashion than I, I'd say, "Beware." Wouldn't you rather look classic, whether running or eating out with your partner, than clownish? Wouldn't you rather be Audrey Hepburn than Madonna circa 1983?

Where do you come down on the "fastinista" trend? It certainly made for an interesting read! I do enjoy that magazine.