Duh!

As the shorts I had been wearing were beginning to fall apart, I recently had to buy some new running shorts. I had a target gift card, and one day when we were back in Columbus, I found a pair of Champion running shorts. I have been wearing them extensively, and I found that they not only fit well, but they didn't chafe (even without spandex compression shorts). I even wore them on my twenty mile runs with no problems, so I planned to wear them for the marathon.

Unfortunately, since they were hanging up in the basement to dry (the dryer tends to eat this type of clothing), I forgot to pack them. I found myself in Kentucky without my running shorts. And since I was planning to wear that particular pair, I didn't bring along my compression shorts, either.

Luckily, there is a Target store in Evansville, so after our fabulous dinner at Acropolis, I went in search of my shorts. I found them without much trouble, and, because I like them so much, I bought two pairs. I brought them straight back to my parents' house and stuck them in the washer. When they came out of the washer, Tara noticed how big they were. "These aren't your size!" she exclaimed. She was right. They were really big. But what could I do?

I thought I maybe had picked up the wrong size, but they said "L" - just like my pair at home. So I made due. But (like the fireboy in the song) I spent much of the marathon just holding up my pants. I cinched them as tight as I could, and as they got sweatier and wetter, they got bigger and bigger.

And sure enough, when we held them up to my "old" pair (which was also size "L"), they were much bigger.

Oh, and in case you're keeping track at home, those comments that I made about never running another marathon again in my life - well, I'm already reconsidering. I think I'd just have to try to run a little smarter. I still don't know how these world class runners can run the times they do - finishing marathons in half the time it takes me to run.