This last week I learned a very rough lesson that I definitely wasn’t ready for: chafing!
In Philadelphia, this past week, it was abnormally warm for a winter afternoon, so I decided to do an extra long run in the sun. What better way is there to beat seasonal depression than a run on a warm sunny day? It was a no-brainer that I had to get out of the house and enjoy it while I still could before winter REALLY hits the East Coast.
Thinking that it was a perfect day out, I wanted to get as much sun as possible. I wore this cute pair of shorts that I have only ever worn in the gym while lifting, never on a run. And, goodness, that was a huge mistake…
…Oh. My. God.
I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of pain I was in for the next several days after this run. These shorts took so much skin off of my inner thighs (especially the right one, for whatever reason) that I had full on scabbing the day after. I was waddling like a penguin for about three days as I healed.
I had never experienced chafing like this before on my runs, so I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. It had been a couple of years since I had done any serious running and I thought that it may have to do with the fact I am a bit bigger than I was the last time I did long distance running. I reached out to a Facebook group that I’m in specifically for marathon runners for suggestions on what the issue could be, and the consensus was? The seams on the shorts were the culprit, based on much more experienced runners’ situations. I am a big believer in reaching out for help from those much more seasoned than myself, so I was grateful to have their insight.
Two big things that I learned on this run are: don’t wear something on an 8 mile run if you’ve never done a shorter run in it first, especially if it has a seam on the bottom, and invest in compression shorts and Body Glide for longer runs. I’m a little thicker than a lot of other runners, so extra precautions must to be taken. Cute clothes are not always the best choice!
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