Lisa: Friend, Runner, Hero.

I occasionally run with my good friend Lisa.  Lisa and I have been friends since pre-school and have weathered a lot of life together (along with our third amiga Katire, who I will give a shout out to despite the fact that she will not run with me and threatened to un-bookmark this blog if I didn't "keep it interesting.")  :)

Lisa has been kicking butts and taking names since 1984.  She is extremely high achieving and excels at everything she tries, including all athletic pursuits.  She teaches spinning, is a yoga instructor, and runs exceptionally well for someone who refuses to race because she doesn't want the rest of us to feel bad to put a lot of pressure on herself.

I think the differences between Lisa and me can best be demonstrated in our workout clothing.  She is always very put together in official (re: matching) running attire.  She has sweat wicking fabric for the summer and cold weather gear for the winter.  She has three pairs of running shoes that she rotates and logs the mileage on, all of which have quick tie locks on the laces.  She wears visors and sunglasses when it's sunny.  She wears matching gloves and a hat when it's cold.  She looks gooooooooooooood.

My clothing choices consist of my collection of cotton t-shirts from high school that I made my parents buy me at every race I ran.  And Umbro shorts.  And sweatpants that are really short on my 6 ft frame.  And sweatshirts that all have OSU-something on them.  And the most recent pair of Asics Gel-Kayanos that I have.  And a very expensive Gore-Tex jacket that my dad made me buy before a particularly snowy race. 

So today, as we were running through a very nice golf course community in a very nice part of town, I'm sure people were wondering if this lovely athletic looking goddess was doing some sort of community service project by running with a girl wearing a orange print bandana (to keep the flopping hair at bay), a bright pink "I run like a girl" cotton t-shirt, and aqua green shorts.  Complete the look by adding me pushing my son in a jogger and I'm sure the people driving by in their Mercedes were discreetly locking their doors.   

The best part about Lisa is that even though she's got herself put together, I know she doesn't care that I don't.  But I care...because secretly, I want to be like Lisa when I grow up.  I want to look gooooooood and be taken seriously just like Lisa is.  I want my running clothes to match and to actually know how many miles are on my shoes.  I want to wear pants that don't look like high waters and socks that haven't been chewed up by one of my dogs.  I want to kick some butts and take some names.  So maybe next time I will put on my expensive Gore-Tex jacket and actually look like I fit in running through that nice community.  I just hope it's not August and 90 degrees when I do it...