The Curse

Every runner has clothes that they run in more often than others because they simply like them.  I have a lot of clothes that I like, but only one article of clothing that I really do not like: my pale pink Nike sports bra.  Sure, it fits just fine, but we have some unpleasant history:

• I purchased it in Ohio, about five years ago.  I thought I would really like it.  I don't.
• It is pale pink and I don't like the color of it anymore.  
• It was what I was wearing on my last run before I was diagnosed with a  stress fracture.
• I wore it for the Flying Pig Half Marathon, where I had a terribly high blood sugar and had to walk in the middle of the race because it was so high.

Most days, it just sits in my sports bra drawer in my dresser.  I see it, and never select it to wear because I swear it has bad karma.  I only wear it when I absolutely have to.  Unfortunately, Sunday was one of those days.  

As I got ready to run in the morning, I thought that maybe I would have a great 12 mile run and the curse would be broken.  I also thought a pair of hot pink shorts that I had also brought bad karma until I wore them for the Heritage Haul Half Marathon and decided they were lucky.  After I finally got up out of bed, and drove to the gazebo where my running club meets, I realized that the weather was perfect.  It was a glorious day to run, or so I thought.  

The run ended up sucking for a variety of reasons:

• My friend/training partner was running a different race so she wasn't there.  I ran with some other people and ended up running the first 6 miles faster than I wanted.  
• By mile 9, I was exhausted for no apparent reason.  
• By mile 10, my legs felt like they were getting cramps.
• By mile 11, I could feel my blood sugar starting to go low.  
• By mile 11.5, my knee started to hurt.
• By mile 11.75, an 8:57 pace seemed like  dead-out sprint.
• At mile 12, I stopped and didn't want to go 1 step farther.  I was 0.1 from our meeting spot and decided I would rather walk there than run there.

The pale pink sports bra once again brought a crappy run.  Since I really don't like wearing it, it would make sense to donate to Goodwill or some other organization.  However, I can't bring myself to get rid of it for some reason.  Maybe because it was expensive or because it fits.  I'm not sure.  What I do know is that it will go back into the drawer and hopefully not be worn in the near future.