I warn you this post is a little on the “too much information” side so feel free to stop reading now.
For those of you still reading you are a hard core runner (or just really curious) and you know that chaffe and bowel movements are a perfectly acceptable topics of conversation for runners.
My running shorts were one of many things that did not work out for me on race day. Despite dowsing myself in anti-chaffe on race morning (I was glistening at the start line) I still walked away from Canberra Marathon with Chaffing. For race day I decided to wear my shorts that I had worn for ALL of my long runs. They had been tried and tested and were very comfortable. On my last long training run though (35km) I noticed the elastic on the inner lining was starting to go. I thought very briefly about wearing new shorts for race day but decided it was too risky (I am petrified of chaffing!) So stupidly I lined up for 42.2km with shorts that had dodgy elastic. Great.
When I am alone on the course I become familiar with the runners around me and yes they even get names. For example there was “backward shorts guy”. Clearly he aquired this name from the fact that he was wearing his shorts backwards. I wondered if it was deliberate or if he had got dressed in the dark. Nicknames are obvious. Like this guy was “jesus-guy”…
Well if any of the runners around me did the same name thing I would have been known as “wedgie girl”. I spent a lot of time fishing my broken elastic shorts out. It was horrible and not something I ever thought I would be doing in public but I was forced to because my shorts were sneaking into the one place that I didn’t drown in anti-chaffe (who would!?!) Despite my best efforts I did finish up with some minor chaffing. Although I don’t think minor is the right word to describe any chaffing in that part of your body!
So you can appreciate now why my favourite sign on the course was:
“Chaffe now, Brag later”
So true.
On other topics, remember me saying how the first 7km of the marathon weren’t great for me. I was struggling to find my groove. Well there were a few reasons (some I will share later) but one reason was this image was on my mind…
Impressive or horrific. Its a personal thing. But truth be told I thought this was going to be me! Despite my pre-race “routine” happening to a tee, I clearly underestimated just how much I had eaten the day before! I really did NOT want to stop at a porta-loo but worst of all I had no idea where they were along the course! What if I didn’t get to one in time. What would I do? I spent the first 7km in a serious panic about finding one and what effect this unscheduled stop would have on my race. Seriously, I can’t believe now that a potential toilet stop could send me into such a panic but it did. Of course there was equal panic for NOT getting to the toilet too! Everyone knows running is the ultimate laxative but no one needs visual proof!
Luckily the need subsided by 7km because I honestly did not notice a porta-loo anywhere on the course. I am sure they were there but I just did not see them. I’m not counting any of the trees that fellow male runners consider toilets (they get it easy don’t they!?!?)
So lessons for next marathons…
1) Ensure elastics on shorts are in tact 2) What goes in must come out (preferably before the race starts) 3) Know where the toilets are. Even though I plan to not use them it is best to be prepared!
Ok if you have any stories of a similar nature please share.
Have you seen this pic before? Impressed or horrified?