Back in the day I ran in running shorts. I started with long ones nearly down to my knees and over the years the got shorter and shorter. For my first Half Marathon in Toronto I ran in a pair with the style-of-the day, fully split sides. Something like this. Not much coverage and lots of chaffing. Loved the freedom but not the constant battle to overcome 'friction'. And yes, I was much thinner then.
Over the years as I grew more modest I started to think about short tights. Believe it or not, I felt they were more revealing than the split side running shorts!
Chaffing! That was the main challenge with those split shorts and no matter what I did, my big thighs could not be defeated. Enter my love affair with running tights.
It wasn't a cold turkey transition. I run outside all year and was already used to running in long tights in the winter. But I was a bit self conscious the first time I ran with the short tights. That was back in the day when 'real runners' only ran in shorts. Runners in tights were not common. I pressed on though and enjoyed the main benefit of running in shrort tights: They were comfortable and there was no chaffing! Form does follow function. An added benefit was that I felt like I was running faster but that was just in my mind.
I've been a dedicated short tights runner for years now and won't be going back to shorts any time soon.
Until next time...
ThatRunninGuy
