fat (wo)man in a little coat

Yeah, the title’s from Tommy Boy.  Shameless ripoff, right?  Well, it’s exactly how I felt at the running store last weekend.

YES.  RUNNING STORE.

A little history: for those of you who don’t know, my friend Laura convinced me to run the 500 Festival Mini Marathon this year.  After a lot of cajoling, convincing, and positive reinforcement, I agreed.  And as January started to coast by in ice-covered glory, I decided it was time to get some gear.

My first (ever!) trip to the running store started out great.  The very helpful folks put me on a treadmill to check my stride (turns out I’m a pretty straightforward runner — who knew?), got me hooked up with some great shoes, and recommended some accessories.  But then, when I decided to splurge on a running outfit, I realized that I was at least six sizes larger than the biggest women’s gear they stocked.

Fat (wo)man in a little coat…

Now, I understand that you want to cater to your core audience.  I’m very certain that the vast majority of runners that frequent this store are much, much smaller than I am.  I’m a big girl, and I know this — hence the motivation to, you know, RUN.  Vicious circle, isn’t it?

Not knowing where to turn, I asked my aforementioned friend what she would recommend.  And lo and behold, I received an incredible amount of responses from runners who had the same problems.  I was able to generate a shopping list online from places that cater to larger athletes.  And you know what?  I bet those places make a KILLING.  Note to neighborhood running store: YOU ARE MISSING OUT.

I’m waiting on my new gear to arrive and getting ready to start a training program on Jan 20th.  I have no idea what to expect, but at least I’ll be wearing a coat that fits!