Boobs, *Thugs, and Harmony

As a 30 year old woman, I'm a little late to the breast party. As in, it literally wasn't until a few years ago I got boobs. I mean, I HAD them, but they were perky little C cups that never gave me grief, or even required a bra for that matter. For most of my life I've never given a second thought about my chest, which was perfectly fine with me. Bras are expensive and big boobs give you backaches and I never had to tell a man that my "eyes are up here." Life was pretty great a smaller chested lady, but because I am a woman and therefore am never in the same body for more than what feels like five fucking seconds, those days came to end. As I crept toward 30 I noticed my button up shirts weren't fitting like they used to, my dresses were started to pull in placed they never had, and those flimsy, shapeless sports bras I had been running in for years? Yeah, they now supportive as a dead beat dad. For whatever reason (excluding pregnancy, extreme weight gain, and praying to the many-breasted god El Shadday because none of those happened), I am now the owner of a pair of DDs I never wanted. In my day-to-day life, this affects me little. However, as a lady runner, they were becoming quite the pains in my ass. Well, my back, really, as all of my sports bras (all a generic size "medium") had started to dig into my back so much that the bands left chaffing marks so deep they'd start bleeding when I'd take my bra off. After the cuts on my back bled through a T shirt the next day, I admitted defeat. My boobs won the war, and their prize was going to be the most expensive bra I had ever purchased.

I was not thrilled about the idea of spending a lot of money on a garment that was hardly, if ever, going to be seen, but I bit the bullet and headed to my local running store. I was of course tempted to order them for a lower price online, but decided that if I was going to do this bra thing I was going to do it right, and I'm really glad I did. Fleet Feet carries Moving Comfort, a brand I had read good things about and runs in actual bra sizes instead of the standard S, M, L XL sizing. While I really liked the idea of the Finoa design (it has a U shaped back like a traditional bra, which would mean I could get rid of my racer back tan line!) I chose the sturdier looking Rebound Racer. My normal size is 32DD, which I took to the fitting room along with a size up from that and a size down. Like the nice sales lady suggested, my normal size felt just a little snug around the ribs. As breathing is kind of important while running, I sized up to a 34DD. This gave me a little extra room to accommodate running bloat (that happens to you guys too, right? Guys?), take deep breaths, and get the damn thing on and off with relative ease. Just seeing myself in a sports bra in my correct cup size was kind of mind blowing. There was no spillage or pulling or flattening. I felt secure and looked good. But would it hold up during a long run?

The next morning I found out that yes, it did! Normally my shoulders are killing me by the end of a run from the weight of my chest pulling down the straps, but because the straps on the Rebound Racer (and most of Moving Comfort's bras for that matter) are adjustable AND padded, my shoulders felt great. Not only that, but the band and cups of this bra are so supportive that it feels like they do most of the work, and the straps are just there to keep the bra in place. While I had gotten used to the girls jiggling a bit during my runs, this bra kept everything on lock down. And should for a long time. Like a traditional bra, there are three sets of hook and eyes on the band in the back, so as it naturally stretches out I can just move it in to the next set of hooks. I mean, while I had a successful bra shopping trip, I'd rather not have to do do it again for a while.

I know fellow Accidental Runner Betsy loves this bra, as do I. So I'm giving it four tits up! Just make sure you try it on in a store first. You can always go home and order it online for less $$ later (oh don't act like you haven't done that).

Happy long runs this weekend!

-Lora


*I am the thug.