Secret #1 – Marathon Training

As I am training for my first Marathon I am learning many things “they” don’t tell you about training for a marathon. (“They” being people who run marathons, or advocate the running of marathons.)

I feel it is my mission to provide you with honest and frank truths about training for a marathon. Heck, there might as well be a good reason for putting myself through all this pain!

 Secret #1  – Chafing!

Yes, my friends after running, sweating and completing the same motions over and over for 2 plus hours parts of your body that have not been chafed before will turn red and rashy and irritated. It is not pretty. This chafing does not just occur where you might expect, like between your legs. Nope, two long runs ago I had horrible chafing where my sports bra hits the top of my chest. Ouch. This is a sports bra that I have worn on hundreds of runs. It is my best one! Or so I thought. My fave sports bra failed me and my sweaty skin.

The thing that sucks most about this is you can’t necessarily predict where you are going to chafe. You just have to get out there and run for hours at a time until you start feeling something uncomfortably rubbing on your skin. Once you find a new chafing area you can guard it the next time with Vaseline or this stuff:

This stuff is marketed to runners to prevent chafing – and anything marketed to a certain group is usually slightly higher in price than a “normal” version of the product. I think Body Glide and Vaseline both work well so it’s up to you if you want to spend the money.

Happy Running (without chafing)!