How Naked is Too Naked?

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Its hot.

 

The type of hot that could melt the rubber off your shoes or dry your mouth out in an instant and the smell of tarmac bubbling in the heat fills the air. You didnt think about the summer training months, when you booked your perfect running temperature-ed autumn marathon. Now, there are intervals on the menu and youll most likely cook.

 

So you roll up your sleeves as high as theyll go, hoping that uncovering your shoulders might be the secret to mobile air con. Its not. The extra material just warms up your pits and makes you sweat even more. You consider looping the bottom of your shirt through the neck hole, to make a retro belly-top but even as a seven-year-old, this was never a good look. Theres only one thing for it, youre going to have to get a little bit more naked.

 

But I wouldnt walk down the road in just my bra. Is it any different to run along the pavement in my crop top? Whilst Im at it, my micro short-shorts would be a cooler option but is it acceptable for my bum cheeks to peek out from under my running bottoms? The pros race in what looks like underwear, does that make it ok for us mere mortals to copy? Should guys be speeding around with, shock horror, their nipples out?

 

If youre that way inclined, there are a handful of races that encourage you to run completely naked. But lets be practical for a second. Do you really want your bits and bumps flopping around as you attempt a sprint finish? I cant say Ive tried it but middle-of-the-night dashes to the loo tell me its pretty uncomfortable.

 

At the end of the day, providing you adhere to public decency laws, it comes down to time, place and preference. On the beach, absolutely, go for it. In the city? I like to go by the rule, normal -1. Look around you, if most people are wearing shirt and shorts, I reckon its more than acceptable to peel off your sweaty top. But if everyone is jumper-ed up, youre probably just showing off.

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Service is great, and the boxer shorts are good for running and so the job they are designed for. Little disappointed that they are not ethically sourced, they have a cheapish feel to them which was a surprise.

Thank you for your feedback Duncan. Runderwear's range of seamless underwear has sustainability benefits over cut and sew garments by reducing wastage of fabric at manufacturing stage. We are testing new fabrics that have been made using sustainable fibers and aim to bring these into our range in the near future. All our factories are quality control checked to the highest standard and our small team regularly visit them and are satisfied that working conditions are ok. We are somewhat surprised you find the pants have a cheapish feel to them. But maybe you mean that the material is not thick and when you stretch it and look up-close it has an almost gauze-like appearance; this is the nature of the product and gives it the moisture wicking properties. We hope you will like using them and will realize how comfy they are.

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Cassandra Kay-Lewis
At last... chaff free running.

Had just about given up with the belief there were running shorts out there that don’t chaff. Purchased the long shorts, and have to say they are wonderful. They are stable, breathable, comfortable and total chaff free.
I would like to highlight I was under the impression that these were “proper” shorts, however they could possibly be described as a base layer shorts. Some form of lightweight run shorts are recommended to wear over them to cover your modesty. Wearing my lightweight run shorts over the top of them didn’t detract from the long shorts benefits.
I typically run up to 21km.