skin tight....

At the end of this evening's 5.33 mile run with Running Club, as we were both stretching off, a girl told me that she always thought I looked really un-aerodynamic when I ran.  My running gear did, anyway.

I looked down at myself.

As usual at this time of year, I was wearing a pair of compression leggings/tights with baggy shorts over the top, as well as a very fetching long-sleeved fluorescent green number with scotchlite strips that reflect light.  Not very stylish, obviously, but fairly functional for a run in the gathering gloom of a pissy Autumnal evening.

She went on: "Why do you wear those big baggy shorts?  You should just run in the lycra."

At this point, I had to laugh.  There are guys who will run in skimpy, figure-hugging lycra.... but I'm definitely not one of those guys.  I own more lycra than is probably healthy for any man, but it's all worn as an under-layer..... It's just not outerwear.  It's something of a point of principle for me that I wouldn't inflict the sight of me running clad only in lycra on anyone.  "To be honest", I replied to this girl, "aerodynamics aren't really at the forefront of my mind when I go out running".

Besides.  I really wasn't feeling it tonight and the whole thing was a bit of a slog.  Whilst it's true that I ran past her in the final mile of the run on Monday (prompting her to remark that men were simply better built for running than men, prompting me to reply that she was about 30kg lighter than me and therefore had a lot less to carry around), I'd run the entire distance tonight approximately 20m behind this girl and getting no closer.  Quite where she'd had an opportunity to assess the aerodynamism or otherwise of my running kit, I don't know....

I suppose I should probably be flattered by the attention, no?  After all, who doesn't love a bit of lycra porn?

Anyone?  Anyone? Bueller....?