The Joy of Tapering...

The best part about training for a marathon or any other race for that matter, is the taper. I love workouts that contain the words six miles, easy and get in a few hills while you are at it!! And fall is the perfect time to go out and enjoy those easier runs...no more humidity...warm enough to still wear shorts...ahhhh...love it! The only drawback about tapering is that you have ample time to think about the things you've seen (or continue to see in my case) while out there sweating since you aren't contemplating your mile splits or trying to keep your heart from exploding in your chest! So let me touch on two curious people I pass a bit more regularly than I want to admit...First is Mr. My (insert shirt, sweatshirt or other type of top) Is Too Short for My Beer Belly Guy....I see this guy almost every single time I run...I think his job is to walk back and forth on the trail in his short shirts just to make me wonder why on earth he can't find a shirt that covers his whole belly. But he always has a smile on his face and really we should be on a first name basis we see each other so frequently and the best thing about him, is at least it's only his belly...which brings me to Man #2. I'll try to keep this PC as I think the only person that reads this blog right now is my dad...but...suffice to say I have been trying to figure out how to nicely tell Man #2 that his man parts are hanging out of his shorts! The problem as I see it is one of two things, either he's not married (clearly no wife would let him out of the house that way) or he hasn't replaced those lucky running shorts in about 20 years and the liner disintegrated 18 years ago. The very first time I passed Man #2 I figured it was a fluke...I mean really, can it be fun to run like that?! I dunno...but what I do know is it is no fluke...in the past two weeks I've seen him twice, in all his glory and his lucky shorts! I asked the hubby what was the proper way to let him know that maybe he needed shorts that were a bit longer and of course he says, "just don't look"...uh huh...but it's like driving past an accident, you can't help yourself! YIKES!! :)