Pea Soup and Other Conundrums

When I stopped running after the Indianapolis Half Marathon in 2004, I would occasionally make semi-feeble attempts to start running again. But, if the weather wasn't perfect and I wasn't completely in the mood or if it was a day that ended in “y”, I'd have an excuse to not have to do it. Mostly it had to do with the weather. Especially cold weather, or hot weather, or too-breezy weather, or not-breezy-enough weather. You get my drift. So when I got up last Saturday morning to do the Eagles Run in North Aurora, IL and it was drizzling rain and felt like the inside of a sauna, I was a little more than shocked that I actually went out and did it. And I wasn’t last! Not that I really care all that much if I am last or not, but not being last means I’m progressing slightly. My time was a little better than my last 5K, by a minute. For super fast runners, shaving a minute off of their time is a huge feat. For 16-minute mile runners like yours truly, shaving a minute off is the equivalent taking off your sweater when you weigh yourself to save that couple of ounces it weighs. However, I am improving and that’s a darn good thing.


This race was great for several reasons (other than I wasn’t last and I was a minute faster). One of my best friends stayed the night and did the 10K race while I did the 5K. She lives two hours from me and we’ve been besties since we were 11 years old so getting to spend any time with her at all, even if it’s her lapping me to finish the 10K before I’m done with my 5K, is more precious than gold. By the way, when she was lapping me, she slowed down so she could finish with me and I, literally, pushed her to keep going and finish on her own terms, not mine. I love her for wanting to encourage me, but I’d rather be chasing her than feeling guilty for slowing her down. I know she doesn’t see it that way, but I admire her so much that I wanted her to be her best, too!


The run was through the campus of Mooseheart which is a community and school for children and teens in need. It is a beautiful and slightly enigmatic place that I’ve lived down the street from for over four years and never been in to see. You can see photos of the run here. It was lovely and peaceful and would have been perfect had I not felt like I was running through lukewarm pea soup. I’ve never sweated so much in my entire life. I looked like a drowned rat and my inappropriate cotton running clothes didn’t help.

Me, in my inappropriate running attire, with my bestie!

This leads me to my latest conundrum. Finding suitable running clothes. Right now I look like a homeless person most of the time when I’m out running. A sweaty, red-faced homeless person. But let me tell you, finding affordable running clothes that fit more than my left thigh is difficult. There are some great sites online for plus sized workout clothing (I hate the term plus sized by the way. There are no plusses to buying big girl clothes, trust me) but I hate buying clothes that I can’t try on and they are expensive! Really expensive. And retail stores apparently don’t think big girls want to work out in appropriate attire. So, I'm on a quest. I am doing some online shopping to find good, affordable clothes that actually fit properly and also seeing what I can find in retail stores. We’ll see what I come up with. I’m not even asking for them to be cute, God forbid. I just don’t want someone handing me change while I’m out running. Or maybe that’d be a good way to save up to buy the new running clothes. Hmmm…