We got home around 3:00 and I immediately jumped into my running gear because it had been raining all day and I was dying to test my new Hydrolite rain jacket! Two words: Love it! It did that weird bubbly, scabies thing I described a couple posts ago which amused me for a good span of time till the bubbles took over and blended into one surface.

It works! Comfortable, very light and breathable (albeit not the most attractive garment), it has a pocket on the side for folding into itself which came in handy for stowing my gloves mid-run. So yay! I’m all geared up for whatever Mother Nature doles out.

Right after the run, we went to the movies to see Slumdog Millionaire. It’s by the guy who made Trainspotting and dayum, this is one phenomenal flick. Twenty thumbs up if not more. Can’t stop thinking about it, it was that good.

In other news, the friend who was attacked is much better. She got out of ICU yesterday so we hung out with her yesterday evening, shooting the shit while she described the Percocet-created dancing onion rings she was seeing. She’s going to be fine and even has some sight in that one eye, with surgery still to come, so huge sigh of relief.

Three more weeks till my last race of the year, a final 5K. But now I’m wanting to race more so I’ve been scouting winter races and found a series called the Pickle Runs in a town about 35 minutes from Philly. It sounds like a blast involving prediction runs, choosing your course (5K, 7K or 4.5 trail) and of course, finding a pickle. And who wouldn’t want to spend the winter searching for a pickle? Not I, sweet friends…not I.

Plus, I made a stupid error for my last 3 Thursday runs…I realized the other day that they were supposed to be G.A. pace, but because I’d been bopping back and forth between the 55/18 and the 70/18 plan, I got confused and did those runs as “mid-longs” (meaning: treating them the same as long runs, first portion 20% slower then MP pace, then up to 10% slower), but that’s just for the 70 plan, the 55 Thursday runs are a bit shorter, thus G.A pace. So I was running them too slow, like 20 seconds/mile too slow.

It’s not life or death, progression runs are great lessons in their own right, but it did make me a little paranoid that now, I must kick all GA runs in the pants! So I did today. Started at 8:50/mile, then went steadily downwards to 8:31, then did the strides and a cooldown. I didn’t intentionally do it progression-wise, in fact I told myself to shoot for 9:00/miles but after the Thursdays gaffe, my body & brain decided otherwise.

Other than that, I wore a new pair of shorts today, Nike Pacers. They are supposedly the Tempo Short’s “sister”, at least that’s how the marketing blurb describes them. I thought they’d be good because the piping is smaller, so maybe there’d be less chance of chafing, plus they’re a little more fitted, so the butt looks less diaperish.

Hrumph! Tempo short’s retarded sister, maybe. The stupid legs kept folding up creating a cuff! Talk about the chafe of hell waiting to happen – thank god I used body glide before I left. Anyway, now I have a new pair of knock-around shorts because those aren’t ever going on a run again. Bad, bad shorts.

And now let us contemplate the many intricacies of running fashion and overrated companies like Nike. Or not. (note to self: must get new smilies, these are extremely lame). Chow, dahlings…

The Bounce-o-meter. It’s Flash, so skip the intro to get right to the meat of the matter.

My diatribe on Sports Bras isn’t really a diatribe because I don’t have a lot of vitriol when it comes to them, just some observations because I’ve bought and thown/given away more bras than you could shake a fist at – which is amusing considering how little I have to contain.

It’s hard to find the perfect bra, sports or otherwise and you never know when your favorite style will turn on you. Like the crotch-level dribble of sweat in the post below, I got home from a hot run one day and found why everyone was smiling at me so weirdly…I had two quarter-sized sweaty circles where my nipples were located. I didn’t even know nipples could sweat.

When I started running, I was all about the Target bras made by Champion, which it turns out didn’t fit me so great, but the price was right and they had lots of colors, so I snapped up a bunch.

Now, the tricky thing about bras is that they have to fit the chest as well as the ribcage right beneath, so a lot of times when the boob part fits, the band is often too tight, so it can be a hurtin’ sling or an empty envelope, either way sucks.

Anyway, the Target bras didn’t strangle my ribcage but left my meager girlettes flailing some so when I finally realized the bad fit, I got rid of them. Of course, I recently went back to Target and found their latest ones fit way better, so I’ll be buying too many of these in my near future. But on to the pricier alternatives…

Champion charges about $35 for one of their better-than-Target tit-huggers, which I find to be stupidly expensive, so Ebay is a great alternative. Apparently, Champion donates bras by the thousands to a few shelters or something and they end up being sold “new without tags” for $9.99 (ala “Buy It Now”), which suits me fine. And gals, if you’re beset like me with ribcage concerns, check out their Glisten bras, they have a larger than usual band, which is strange but wonderful, and again, you can find them on Ebay for cheap.

Lastly, for you gals who are chest-challenged, the Champion Shape line of bras are pretty cool, they’re padded and seamed to where they give you tits! But they’re a little warm in the summer due to the padding, plus if I’m particularly insecure on a given day, I feel like I have a sign on my chest that reads “FAKE TITS” – but that’s just me. It doesn’t help that Champion makes the Shape bras in all kinds of gorgeous colors if you have a “normal” cup size, while us A-cuppers are only offered black or white…prejudiced bastards.

But now it’s time to stop the bra diatribe (it did turn into one, didn’t it?) and start making dinner while Nick admires my glorious ta-tas, because he’s silly like that.

Then Spring came, and with it more mileage, more days running and stinkier sweat. Rinsing would no longer cut it – I would have to start buying actual running wear.

Now, Real Life shopping is not a happy time for me; I hate the hunt, the parking, the not finding, the trying on taking off trying on taking off, just all of it, so when I discovered all the great online running apparel stores, well let me just say…pig in shit. I started buying shorts, socks, sportbras, tops, more shoes, running skirts, visor and hat (because after I bought the visor, everyone on the forum said they loved their hats), and more socks.

To Nick, my manly man boyfriend, this was all very amusing until he realized that my new stuff was now living in the porno drawer, the drawer previously reserved for skanky-girl nasty sex wear. Those flimsy pieces of string and fluff were now smashed by my Hinds, my Adidas, my Nikes, my Asics. Unfortunately, I still have not found a good resolution for this, because it’s still the porno/running clothes drawer, but I digress…

Winter is now upon us and I have declared that no longer will I swish loudly in wind pant/pantyhose loveliness this year. Instead, I’ve been shopping, because gosh dern it, I deserve it!

I started out with my tried and true online shops, but soon discovered that running tights and pants are not as easy to fit as shorts, in fact, they’re an elusive pain in the ass if you’re 5’4” and female. From incorrect inseam sizes, to crotch seams that could sand a piece of plywood, to ankle elastic that borders on tourniquet, you really have to try on tights in person.

And try on, I did. I ended up going to my local running store, Philadelphia Runner, bought 2 regular weight pairs there, then walked a block to City Sports and tried on about 15 more pair (no exaggeration), settling on a single cold-weather pair of toasty tights – a fine replacement for the wind pant/pantyhose combo.

I also tried on an Asics jacket, the Storm Shelter, because a jacket that can handle shitty weather better than my cheap wind thing would be a good idea. For $100 I was unsure, then I got home and found it at Paragon Sports online for $80 w/ free shipping, so I ordered it.

And these meager items, ladies and gentlemen, along with 1 other pair of tights, some flare-leg running pants, 3 capris, 6 new longsleeve shirts, another dri-fit hat to replace the one I lost at the Philly Half, plus a fleece headband and gloves – all of which I neglected to mention because now I seem downright greedy – is just about enough winter wardrobe to keep any girl in motion.