In it for the long run

Wednesday run: "All the world's a stage"

This was quiet and relatively uneventful. My run lasted 52:01.20 minutes, and the route consisted of some track, park, and neighborhood.

Just one question I can't help asking: I noticed a woman wearing what appeared to be a warm-up suit for running--and smoking a cigarette. Further along, I saw another woman in, again, what looked like workout clothes--smoking! I don't get this. Not to say that people shouldn't dress in whatever feels comfortable. But we're all on stage in whatever clothes we choose. Some want to look like they spend their lives cruising across America on a Harley-Davidson. Others might adopt the up-and-coming Wall Street tycoon look. Still others prefer the GenX coffee bar look--throw in a nose ring, black clothes, multi-colored hair....

And for the most part, folks adopting these looks manage to do so convincingly enough. But the athletic look is a thorny area. First, it gets subdivided into the football look (jerseys, face painted in team colors...), the basketball look (team shirt and baggy shorts), etc. etc. There are more or less successful imitations of the sports heroes among the wearers of these fashions. Since I don't follow football, I'm going to guess that perhaps there are some rules that govern the painting of one's body with the team colors. I'll leave it to football fans to decide these rules. Since the basketball look is so frequently accessorized by a basketball, I am ready to concede that the wearer actually plans to play.

But there are odd ways to imitate the runner look (such as it is or isn't): Catalogs advertise "jogging suits" that don't look like anything a self-respecting runner would wear on the road (although they might be comfy for watching tv, I suppose, or out to breakfast at a diner). But stranger still are the ways in which some people accessorize these clothes--how can one convincingly wear a "jogging suit" and smoke a cigarette? Who are their casting agents?

It could be that this general confusion about what constitutes a "running outfit" is at work when people see me in denim shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals and ask me if I'm going for a run. In sandals?

But then I suppose this confusion could be a good thing too. We runners are everywhere, but I dare you to find us when we're not running! We're like secret agents. What is the Secret Agent look? You might think it's some dark suit, a trench coat, sunglasses. Ha! Way too obvious! Real secret agents travel more incognito than that. Thus, the attempt to imitate them is usually unsuccessful. And so with us runners too: you're the real thing or you're not. And the only way to prove it is not by what you wear but what you do: RUN.

posted by DPMcManus @ 11:08 AM