Rundies or Tights?- My half-Marathon Blunder!

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(Edited)


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I remember we were just approaching winter and fitness enthusiasts were singing the song "Summer Bodies Are Made in Winter". The beat to this song always hit hard to those who spend winter eating like we get curation rewards for constantly eating.


While busy shopping on a Saturday noon, I came across a race flyer and I immediately danced to the fitness tune. I thought the 21 km race was a great chance for self-improvement in running a half marathon and burn some of the winter calories. More importantly, I had justification for getting myself a new pair of trainers to catch up on my jogging that I have been lagging for an entire semester.

I ended up spending more than I budgeted for on that day but went home feeling proud that this was "justified" since my old running shoes were starting to look like a combination of Bootees and Chinese Lotus shoes. That is how much I used to run back in the day and being a heel striker my outsole suffered the most.

While others were boasting about their Daily Target Runs on their WhatsApp status, I did little beyond the occasional jogging and walking. I planned to catch up on most of it during the race. Six months of little to no exercise had taken their toll and naïve me hadn’t realized that my endurance and stamina have decreased dismally. I thought watching Usain Bolt on YouTube was enough mental training and I trusted the motivational speakers that say successful people invest 80% mindset and 20% hardwork.

Race day dawned. And I was not bothered seeing a lot of ladies in Rundies. I was minding my own business and my inner voice said: "Let them do their thing and you do you Humbe". I swear that was not a challenge to gravity, it was supposed to be a random voice in my head praising me for covering every inch of my legs from the sun and eagle eyes. To solve the see-through problem, I planned on layering two pants, a short tight first and then layer it with a long tight.

I had the caution not to reveal much from the thin tight material outsmart my common sense. Guess what? Both tights were made of spandex fabric. A few minutes after the racing gun went off, my long tight was divorcing my waist to elope with gravity to pursue their love affair. OMG! The two were flirting with every step I took acting like star-crossed lovers, I could hear gravity saying "come closer" to my long tights and I had to forcibly pull it up.

The silly gravity did not care, it continued eyeing my long tights and was making it slide down towards it. I kept hearing the motivational speaker "Les Brown" saying DO NOT GIVE UP! I continued running like "Sister Bernard" and pulling up the silly tights every five minutes knowing perfectly that if it slides to my knees, It's game over - I would meet face to face with the ground!


After 10km, we finally got to mobile toilets and I decided to fix the blunder. Minding hygiene took me close to 5 minutes to remove the small tight and squeeze it into my running belt. Finally, I felt a euphoric sense of freedom and I was getting some dopamine spikes to finish the next 10 km. But then we had a steep hill and I had 5 km left to go. I was struggling midway after exhausting all energy up the hill.

I somehow managed to stumble across the finish line in 2 hours and 52 minutes just before the cut-off time at 9:00. I got to understand why most female runners would rather run in Rundies than tights. And I ended up with another good reason to invest in high-quality tights for for the next race. Another valuable lesson was to train for the next race or I may reach the finish line in a sag wagon (loser bus)!

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Thank you for stopping by!

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31 comments
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I haven't done one of these races before. Health issues & concern. I also do not know the difference between rundies and tight. Aren't they both supposed to be tight since you need something tight to run such a race?

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(Edited)

Oh, Jose, you can still enjoy a fun walk for 5km; those can be fun too!

Well, most Rundies are just Undies for runners. It is what the lady is wearing in the picture. They claim it's lightweight and the best option for long-distance runners to minimize excessive sweating.

But I am too unprofessional to consider running in just that. Haha!😅

Thanks for stopping by! ✨

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Well, haha one's gotta run in what they're comfortable with lool. Since you're not an athlete, it's not bad to be unprofessional about it. That rundies sure looks funny 🤣🤣🤣

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True! Comfort really matters!

Exactly! One might end up looking like a madwoman running in those Rundies, only to reach the finish line when the event organizers are about to pack up for the day... 😂

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😅 sorry about your tight incident dear. I think I've been there before, trying out new combinations of outfits that turned out an almost embarrassing disaster.
Thank goodness you’ve gotten new kicks and resumed your workouts. More grace dear💕

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Haha, thanks, Whitney! 😊 At least you can relate! It's indeed a bad idea to try new thing on race day, and even worse if the new shoes start squeezing your toes. You'll feel like running barefoot!🤞🏾😅

Thanks dor stopping by! ✨

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It is not easy to be in shape, to run and to win. I saw you running aimlessly and I'm sure when you arrived you asked for a hamburger. I will try to be a better human being and leave the chronic sedentary lifestyle I have

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True! It's really not easy to stay in shape. It's the little daily efforts and walks that count the most.

I'm sure when you arrived you asked for a hamburger.

Hehehe,😅you sound like a psychic, Lisfabian! I really needed a hamburger after that race. I would've even faked fainting so they could quickly feed me one if they had any.

But all they had were energy drinks to replenish our electrolytes and coke soda, which made me even hungrier with all the acid.😆

Thanks for stopping by!✨

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How do I step in to this? Throat cleared 🥱
I see people that go around running around as Rich kids. A local man/woman has no interest on this except it's bringing money. Lol. Although, except those that are heavily chubby and want to reduce. But also, the local man/woman are hardly seen in such condition. You don't sounds chubby, so it's definitely the first instance😂

Your tight,
Sorry.

I know I'm not the only one that expected to see a photo of you on those wears on this post. I just spoke the mind of many 😅

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It is actually the latter. 🤔 And this is the cheapest way to stay in shape; it's free. One can simply decide to chase air anytime and anywhere.

I know I'm not the only one that expected to see a photo of you on those wears on this post. I just spoke the mind of many 😅

Let's have all of them gather here and speak their mind, and it will be done. 🤞🏾

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It is actually the latter

If it's true, then I'm excited cos I like being friends with fleshy People due to the fact that I don't have flesh🥰

Let's have all of them gather here and speak their mind, and it will be done. 🤞🏾

Thank you, you smartly and successfully m^rdered my request 😥

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Fleshy people, Lol I see.


It's a fair deal though.🤔

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Humbe,
I want to meet you

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I'm thousands miles away and even 1hr into the future. I get to see a new day before you guys there.

But maybe Wongi or Cheeamaka might agree to meet you on my behalf? Haha

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South Africa,
(I used to know)🤔

It's still possible to meet. Yeah, I have an idea.
Possible to meet you first via a DM? Twitch, signal, 2go...🙈

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Greetings, for this type of race you must not only have a mental preparation, but also a physical one to prepare and train and be able to improve the time in the 21 km. I'm telling you from experience as a runner from a few years ago, greetings.

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True, it needs alot of training and consistency to improve the time.

And I remember you wrote a post on how you got to improve your time by also training on a hill. I will have to work on that too to improve my indurance.

Thanks for stopping by!✨

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Half marathons a far, running in the wrong gear a big no no.... Glad you finished the race, next time wiser your will enjoy it more !LUV

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You're right! I learned the hard way, and I will never make that mistake again. 😅

Thanks for stopping by Joanstewart🌺

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In my youth the longest I completed was a 16km challenging walk through suburbs of Johannesburg. Months of training, no fancy fashions then, simply normal walking shorts and club T-Shirt.

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Nice! Completing 16km is a great milestone and the distance is long enough to cover a steep road. I had to at least finish 10km and 15km races before a half marathon and my first-ever 10km race was in 2015 around the Edendale and Caluza areas, in Pietermaritzburg.

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Months of training, no fancy fashions then, simply normal walking shorts and club T-Shirt.

Oh yes! I learned this rule the hard way😀

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All the hills... Pietermaritzburg another crazy area to run through. I only ever got one finish of that distance running not my first love, swimming is.

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Yep, most parts of PMB's landscape can be crazy to run through.

Well, swimming is more fun than running.✨

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