Wednesday, September 11, 2013

"I'm Gonna Pop Some Tags" For My Fall Marathon



The Thrift shop. 20 dollars in your pocket. 

This is all you need for a cozy, relaxing marathon morning. 

If you have a fall marathon, then put "visit the thrift shop" on your list of things to do right under "run three 20 milers."

Imagine. It's 6:45 am and it's freezing at the start. Standing in the chute, 45 minutes or so to race time. My muscles get tight, my extremities get ice covered. I feel like I need to waste energy just to stay warm, and then when the gun does go off, there's this urge to blast out a fast mile just to stop my teeth from chattering.

Forget that noise. Hit the thrift shop, and walk into the chute, like ‘what? I got some shoes that rock. ' Nah, you’re just pumped, you got some shit at the Thrift Shop.


Yep, during your taper, go get yourself in a big ass coat, from that thrift shop down the road and you'll feel like you're still at home while hanging out in the race-day chute.

Oversized sweats, oversized hoodies, layer upon layer upon layer. I mismatch myself Macklemore style. I'll take those flannel zebra jammies, second-hand, I rock that motherfucker. Then ditch it to the side of the road during the anthem, like a boxer taking off his robe, you're a bad-ass ready to beat some ass. And with any luck, you'll buy the same discarded outfit next year. I've thrown out a couple wardrobes of clothes in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Boston, all the while thinking, "Probably should have washed this, smells like Shalane Flanagan's socks… but Shiiiitttt… it was ninety-nine cents. "



On his way to the Marathon start.

 Metro Detroit has it's ValueWorlds, who even put out half off coupons. Go get some grandda's clothes. You'll look incredible.

But don't stop just for marathon morning wear. Blow yourself up. My rule is to never buy second-hand underwear, socks,  hats, or shoes, (Passin' up on those moccasins someone else's been walkin' in) but the rest is fair game. I’ve walked into work with some nice digs on, and was just foaming at the mouth to ask everyone how much they thought it all cost. Nobody would guess under ten bucks. I was so proud. 


So, I'm off to to the Thrift Shop. The New York City Marathon is on November 3rd, and it's sure to be freezing at the start. I’m looking for ‘the built in onesie with the socks on the motherfucker.'



2 comments:

Ty @tyruns.blogspot said...

Haha!! Nice.

Vaudiophile said...

As a human power plant of heat, I'm usually that guy at the fall races just dressed in what I'll run in. Sure, I'm cold in the corral, but I won't show it. Then a half mile into the race, I'll be sweating.

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