Annie: Chafed

Now that I'm making my transition from the bike to the treadmill for my 4x/week routine, I'm quickly discovering that I will need some additions to my wardrobe.

As you may know from previous posts, my sister is a marathon runner, so she has excellent advice on all kinds of things related to running, fitness, treadmills, diet, inspiration, dedication... in addition to, of course, all the other things sisters give important advice on!

So she has all kinds of great suggestions about what to wear, and when and how to wear it, to be comfortable running.  Her most important piece of advice: wear whatever you want if you're comfortable in it, and don't give a crap what anyone else thinks!

While that might sound like permission to wear whatever sloppy clothes I have around the house, the burn on the insides of my meaty thighs suggests that I need to find some proper exercise clothes. At my size, it's not at all about "looking good," because quite honestly, though I'm already feeling much better about myself, I'm not under any illusions that anyone would be finding my current figure in anything close to "form-fitting" garb even close to attractive. Not that it matters much right now: I'm on the treadmill in my basement, which I share with two people who love me no matter what I look like.

But could it save me from inadvertently starting a fire on the skin between my thighs during walk/run sessions? If the answer is even maybe, I'm in.


Where to shop?

My sister has a bit of a love affair going with the Adidas outlet store not far from my place - whenever she comes to visit, she stops in and picks up a couple of new additions to her exercise wardrobe.

The biggest size available there: XL (in some articles - in some others, L). I think XL is made for women sized 12-14 - so I am a l-o-n-g way from being able to buy anything there (or, I suspect, in any other normal athletic wear store).  So I set out to do some research - and was delighted to find a range of choices online.

Thank you, Internet

It's only right that the technology that allowed me to order sinful chocolate babkas from Zabar's will also help me drop the weight they contributed to.

First of all, here's a site that provides links to a number of different purveyors of plus-size exercise clothing in Canada.

Even more promising, to me: Go Figure, a business out of British Columbia that bills itself as "the leading Canadian clothing designer and manufacturer focused on active & fitness wear and accessories for women size 10 and over."


Apparently you can (presumably try on and) buy their clothes at a number of The Bay stores in BC - unfortunately, not yet in my neck of the woods. But the online store looks great to me... and I won't even have to pay duty!


I'm going to ask my sister for her advice on whether she spots anything in the descriptions or fabrics or anything that she knows to be better/worse choices, and then likely put in an order.


If you have any other suggestions about plus-size exercise clothing (either vendors or observations/personal experiences), I'm all ears!


Chafing, be gone - this road is too damned long to put up with you.