Things They Don't Tell You About Running

Over the past week, I've been sporting some not-so-stylish wounds on my chest. Basically, everywhere my sports bra had a seam during the 32k run, I now have an unsightly scar. The diagonal dashes actually look surprisingly like the traditional medicine scars I saw on patients in Tanzania. For many patients presenting with cardiac issues, the traditional healers had generously marked the precise spot of the heart murmer with a concentration of small linear burn marks. It made the med student's job a little easier, though unfortunately, we usually had just as few tools as the traditional healer for actually healing.

Mine, fortunately, are not cardiac related, and today for our 2 hour run, I tried a different method that involved a large piece of duct tape. I thought that if this worked to prevent blisters while hiking, it would certainly prevent sports bra chafing. I was feeling pretty proud of my ingenuity until about 4 miles in, when the intense itching began. I'm embarassed to say I now have a bright red duct-tape-shaped contact dermatitis cooling off in a slathering of Neosporin. Somehow these chafing issues don't feel quite as badass as running's other effects...