New Clothes!

I LOVE buying new clothes.  Now that I'm running consistently, I decided it was time to get some decent pants and shirts.  Until now, I have been running in old pants that used to belong to my sister-translation: about ten years old-and any t-shirt I had in my closet.  Not the best, or most stylish.

I've been shopping around for a while now and I've discovered something....Running clothes are EXPENSIVE! Maybe I just have expensive taste, but wow!  First trying to find something that could even fit, and then in my price range? Not so much.  Thankfully, I found some hints from a few blogs.

First, I really love the look of running skirts.  So feminine and they hide two of my least favorite things, thigh bunching and the hind end.  Most pants are just a little too tight around my hips for me to feel comfortable.  The problem is, I have found one, maybe two websites that sell them in my size and I just don't have $70-$80 to spend.  Well, I was reading a blog post one day and the lady(I wish I could remember who it was so I could give credit) wrote about how her running clothes were great swim cover-ups because they dried so quickly.  As I read, the thought crossed my mind, most things to do with swimming are made to dry fast, what if I found a swim skirt cover up and used that with a pair of compression shorts for running?  Should work right?  Well, I found one on walmart.com for $10!  It was just the right size, though I would have liked it in pink....

Next step was finding some compression shorts that also didn't cost an arm and a leg.  Even the cheap stuff ran about $30-$40, still a little too steep for my budget.  Once again, my inspiration came from a blog.  Over on Bigger Girls Can Run Too, She wrote about her find at Old Navy.  She too had been thinking about a running skirt and found one there to try.  While I didn't get the skirt (it was just a bit too small)  I did find some compression shorts.  On Clearance.  $7.49!  So AWESOME!  I really should have bought two pair, but I wasn't sure if I would like them.  *sigh*  Oh well, now I know A: Old Navy caries moisture wicking clothes and B: Buy it when it's cheap!

The last thing I bought was a shirt.  I have been having the hardest time find any sweat wicking shirts for any women in my local~non-running~stores, let alone plus size.  Finally, my sister-in-law pointed out that mens shirts work just as well for women like us and Walmart had plenty.  Once again, on clearance ($6.67)!  Not the cutest, but it gets the job done and I don't have to stuff myself into a too-small shirt.  I really just look like an over-stuffed sausage when I do that and no-one needs to see that.

All of this, coupled with my new SPIbelt that I won (more on that later) and I am pretty happy with my new look.  Best of all, it cost me less than $25!  Someday I'll have the money for some super cute running skirts and shirts with all the cute sayings, but for now, this gets the job done.