This month, we’re chatting about running shorts, running injuries, and we discuss our and favourite race distances
Running mates
THE BIG QUESTIONS
The running topics we’ve been talking about this month
@its.arunderfullife
For years, I wasn’t a shorts wearer as I had issues over my chunky thighs, cellulite and veins. Then I thought “f&@# it” and wore them. I have so much empathy for anybody who is scared to wear shorts, but I have never looked back since I realised that nobody else cares.
@littlebitjunky
@its.arunderfullife Same here. I’m a shorts wearer.
@theclassicalrunner
For years, I hid my legs. Then I decided it was time to wear shorts because I wanted to, because it was boiling hot and because my legs have given me all the running joy. We should be supporting each other to wear whatever we want. Anybody can wear shorts.
@loubyrunr
They are not for me. I’ve always hated shorts. I feel half naked and exposed in them and I’m more comfortable in long trousers. Even in the 40° sun!
@runs.and.writes
I started wearing shorts two years ago after more than 25 years of never allowing myself to. It feels so liberating to say goodbye to any shame around having cellulite (about 95% of women do apparently), wobbly thighs, veins and ‘thunder thighs’. I now wear just my sports bra and cycling shorts. Wear whatever you need to keep running. Whatever allows comfort and gives you joy.
@rebel.running
Get your legs out women – when it’s hot, your legs need air. It’s practical and nobody is perfect. Indeed, the more imperfect bodies are exposed, the more we will feel ‘normal’.
@emmadavies87
I am a year-round shorts wearer – it’s shorts or I melt. I completely understand that many women don’t feel comfortable wearing shorts and that makes me sad, but we’re all runners – regardless of what we wear when we run.
Running and knee pain
Emily Coltman, 45, an accountant from Fife, in Scotland, says running has helped rather than harmed her knee pain
“I read with interest your recent article on knee problems (July 2023 issue) because I was diagnosed earlier this year with patellofemoral pain syndrome, which, depending on who you speak to or which article you read, is either the same as runner’s knee or a different condition altogether…
“I tried resting and swimming instead of running, but it didn’t make my knee pain go away. Then I saw a physio who told me I shouldn’t stop running. He said the key was to strengthen the muscles around my knee, and that to stop running could actually make them weaker in the long term. His advice was to reduce the volume and number of my
