Chafing

The word alone strikes fear in the heart of runners. If this is something you’ve never heard of or experienced, let me offer you some information. I found this at About.com:

Symptoms of Chafing:

The most common symptom of chafing is a painful stinging or burning sensation. The area is usually red and raw.

Cause of Chafing:

Chafing is caused by repeated motion -- specifically, skin rubbing against loose fabric or other skin. Chafing most often occurs around the bra line (women), nipples (men), inner thighs, and under the arms. Moisture, either from sweat or rain, can worsen chafing. It can also be caused by a poorly fitted bra.

If you are still confused as to what I am talking about, let me provide a visual for you. Alert: This is a picture of my inner thigh. If this bothers you, don’t look. If you are a co-worker of mine who has a link to this blog, PLEASE don’t look. And if you are my husband and are horrified because I am posting this on the internet, let me ask you. Are you really surprised?

That picture was taken after a 4 mile run I did without Body Glide. Big mistake! Feeling I had learned a lesson, I wore shorts to my half marathon. I liberally applied the body glide. Unfortunately, I didn’t apply it far enough to the back of my thighs. Plus, running 13.1 miles, along with 90% humidity and lots of sweat means it will rub off. I started feeling pain at around 4 miles. By mile 6 I must have been numb because it stopped burning. Silly me, I assumed it stopped rubbing. I’m not sure why I thought that. Did I think my legs were shrinking? HA! I wish.

At mile 9 I started feeling burning under my arms. I had worn a tank top and since I’ve n ever worn one for that kind of distance it didn’t occur to me to put body glide there. Ouch.

After the race, the first thing I did was make everyone that had come with me look at my chafing. I’m sure they loved it.  When I went to the bathroom a little later I realized I was bleeding. That’s right. My chubby inner thighs had rubbed together so much I was bleeding.

This begs a question. Why do I keep doing this? Why do I run? It is causing me all kinds of pain and I just keep going back for more. Maybe I can answer that question some day. Right now I have to go put more medication on my broken alligator skinned thighs.

~Mel