In summer, it’s all about the tops of my inner thighs, a chafing spot that is magically cured in the winter, when I trade shorts for tights.  The trade-out is not without a trade-off, however, since tights can create their own form of chafing torture for me.  It’s a real bummer in fact, since the chafing happens where I’d least expect it – my crack, to be exact.

The back seam of my tights has managed to rub me raw enough times on a long run that I’ve taken to Body Gliding my crack on a semi-regular basis.  I’ve no choice, since you can’t tell it’s happening until later, when the after-run shower spray hits your sports-related diaper rash like a searing cup of McDonald’s coffee.

Luckily, when I revealed where the Glide was going to my Women’s BQ pals, several of those fabulous ladies admitted the same, insuring that I wasn’t a lone Crack Glider.  Whew.

Still, putting the glide there is a somewhat tricky process and not the most self-respecting way to prepare for a run, but there are worse things to worry about.  In fact, as far as physical admissions (or emissions) go, I had another secret little problem when doing hard speed sessions last Fall into Spring.  When pushing a workout (intervals or races), I’d squirt a little pee.

This isn’t a huge deal unless you’re wearing those cute colorful running shorts from Old Navy, then a couple drops blossom into a full-fledged embarrassment that lasts a good long time since it always happens a few miles from home.  For a while there, I took to wearing a thin pad (sorry, male readers, it has to be said) on speed and race days, which worked well but I still hated that it happened at all.  Of course, being a woman in her mid-forties, you have to expect this sort of thing so I wasn’t insanely freaked out, just made depressingly aware that I was getting older.

Thankfully, joyously, it eventually stopped happening completely – didn’t even require a single kegel exercise.  Not sure what did the trick, though in all seriousness, I wonder if getting used to running hard had something to do with it.   Whatever the reason, it’s a thrill to not have to worry about it anymore.

Winter crack chafe, on the other hand, looks to be here to stay.