Fashion Strides

Because registration just opened for the Twin Cities Marathon (and, as of now, is still open), I’m still stuck on the issue of running fashion. Huge strides (hardy-har!) have been made in this area as of late, with much thanks to the running skort (an Adidas version is seen at left, as modeled by my friend D’Ann during a recent spree at Marathon Sports) and Stella McCartney (see below). And yet, I still see plenty of sweaty saps circling the lakes in their soaked cotton gym shorts–you know, the ones that creep higher and higher up the slicked plump inner thigh until meeting at the center of the crotch. Tsk-tsk.

In any case, over the past two years, I’ve been very happy to witness the gradual relaxing of standards for running attire. Used to be runners were expected to look dumpy. Not anymore. As a matter of fact, at last week’s TC 1-Mile Race, I spotted the funkiest running getup I’ve seen to date. I almost collapsed under pressure of envy! She was wearing a sports bra and “compression” shorts over this last-season Stella McCartney for Adidas tennis dress. (Sorry about picturing the unattractive mannequin, folks. I wasn’t packing the Elph that day.)

As far as I’m aware, the only place to see and touch Stella McCartney for Adidas is at the Mall of America’s Paiva store. But for convenience sake, I’ve provided a link to the ShopAdidas selection of stuff from our fair lady Stella. But, since this is also an issue of comfort, the Twin Cities’ finest running specialty stores are currently stocked with all kinds of great-looking, high-performance skorts.