I Sweat Therefore I Am...a Runner

Hold your nose folks.

Today's musings are about running clothes.  Sweaty, stinky, can walk around the house on their own, running clothes.

There are some people out there who don't sweat. 

I live with one of them.

I am not one of them.

I'm sweating profusely before I get to the end of my street...in February.

I know people who can get more than one wear out of their running clothes before they hit the laundry.  I peel off dripping wet, salt covered clothes after an easy 20 minute run and would never EVER consider not washing every article of clothing after every run - including my hat.

My first summer of running, I bought myself a super cool pair of CWX running shorts and I loved them.  I wore them, I washed them, I hung them to dry.  I was a runner!

A few weeks into the summer, I began to notice a certain odor wafting up from said shorts mere seconds after I put them on.  I wasn't even running yet!?!  I started adding baking soda to the laundry to help neutralize things a bit.  It didn't do much. 

I was embarassed to ask my running friends because no one else seemed to have this problem.  During a weekend in Guelph, I went into a running store and explained my problem to the nice lady.  It felt oddly like going to confession.  She immediately starting talking about her first summer of running and her encounter with the same problem.  She handed me a surprisingly small $15 bottle of special laundry soap.  I brought it home, tried it out and it seemed to do the trick.  Problem was that I needed to do three loads of running clothes a week meaning that the bottle wouldn't last more than a few weeks.  Meaning that I would be paying a lot of money to wash my already expensive clothes.

So I rationed it.  Waited until the odor came back and then used it.  I made it last all season but I was bitter about having to pay so much. 

Then, this past April, while we were gallavanting around Provincetown, I discovered Tide Sports Wash.  Same price as the regular stuff but specifically designed for stinky fitness clothes.  I bought the last bottle on the shelf and brought it home.  It works! 

Now it's almost empty and I can't find it in Canada. 

I've heard that there is a new PC brand of sports wash available.  I haven't tried it yet. The bottle looks small and expensive but it is available in Canada which is helpful.

I don't mind being a sweaty, smelly runner.  I just want my clothes to smell good when I put them on. After that, anything goes!