To Skirt or Not to Skirt

This is the one time of year that I switch gears and racewalk with an awesome team on the companion event to the Hood Coast - the 128 mile, 12 person walk relay Portland to Coast. In addition to working an entirely different set of leg and hip muscles, racewalking presents a chafing challenge unmatched by even my longest runs. Because efficient racewalking technique requires both narrow leg motion and vigourous arm movement, inner thighs and the backs of the arm at the sleeve opening both suffer in this event.

Solving the upper arm issue is fairly easy. BodyGlide, a greaseless skin protectant, does an excellent job of preventing chafing. Vaseline works equally well, although it is much messier than BodyGlide.

The inner thighs, however, can still be a problem area even with a liberal dose of the stuff. So this year I am considering wearing a running skirt in the hopes that the lack of material will solve my issues forever. I was fortunate enough to be given one as a gift last year, and I recently tested it out on a morning run. Although it is a bit shorter than I would like, it is supremely comfortable. I was surprised to discover this.

But still, it's a skirt. And yeah, Runner's World has been documenting the growing popularity of the running skirt, but as a long time soccer player and tomboy, the idea of wearing a skirt to go out and sweat seems downright weird. I'm still not to the point of running in my sportsbra, and now I'm going to throw in a short skirt? Yikes! But it is so comfortable . . . what is a girl to do?

I've got two weeks to decide.