Claustrophobic Clothes

It is such a gorgeous day here today. Finally! A perfect day to do my long run (6 miles) in the park.

I've been using my iPhone with the Nike + app lately instead of my iPod (it's SO much better), but I don't have an armband for it yet, so I have to wear tops with zipper pockets. When I went to get dressed for my run, I realized that all of my running fleeces were dirty. I dug through a pile of non-athletic jackets and found a black zip up fleece with pockets. I felt really frumpy in it, but Ryan assured me that I didn't look stupid, so I took his word for it.
I think there's a reason that some types of fleece are deemed 'athletic'. This one was not. After only a few minutes in it, I was already getting hot.

I got to the park, fleece and all, and started my run on the loop that is about 2 miles around the bottom portion of the park. There sure were a lot of interesting people out today. Nice weather does that. I actually got passed by what appeared to be an at least 80 year old man.
I really have my work cut out for me.

As a person who has lived in this crazy city for 2 years, nothing really surprises me. Until today. I saw 2 men, overweight, without their shirts on, running barefoot on the loop. How does that not hurt? And who sets out for a nice jog and thinks, today I will wear no shirt and no shoes? Gotta love this city.

Back to the fleece...I'm now a couple of miles into my run when I can't bear the heat anymore from the fleece and decide to take it off. I try to unzip it, but it's stuck. So I try to get it unstuck by zipping it up and then down. No go. Now it's just zipped up almost all the way, like a stupid turtleneck! I can't get the stupid thing off! I think I've mentioned in the past that I get claustrophobic easily. This applies to clothes too. I rarely ever wear jackets/coats that zip. I prefer buttons. Buttons don't get stuck. So here I am, running in the middle of all of these people, hot as hades in my non athletic fleece, feeling a panic attack coming on because I'm stuck. Ok, don't panic, I think. It's no big deal. It's just a fleece and it's not hurting you. You aren't going to die from being stuck in it. I'll just finish the loop and head home.

So I did, and as soon as I got into the apartment, I proceeded to try to pull the stupid fleece over my head. Nope. My head was too big for the opening. Panic was setting in.
I start yelling for Ryan to come help and bring a pair of scissors, begging him to cut me out of it. Luckily for me, Ryan is a more rational thinker and manages to get the zipper and me unstuck from the fleece.

After all of that unpleasant chaos, I only got 4 miles in. I will do my remaining 2 later...without that fleece on!