Monday, March 29, 2010

Thong Shirt

Confession: I have a habit of falling in love with articles of clothing. In high school, I had a pair of pajama pants that was so comfortable that I wore them until they got holes in the knees. I kept wearing them until my brother literally ripped them into shreds so I could no longer wear them (you owe me awesome pants, Dave!). Anyway, I've had a shirt that has been one of my favorites for nearly eight years. It is a shirt I got at a track meet, the Mt. SAC Relays, in 2002. This wasn't just any track meet either; I have good memories from this one...

This track meet always has a full day of distance races including several heats of the 10k. I ran in one of the last heats of the 10k for the day. The meet was running behind schedule, so I didn't end up running until about 10 p.m. I ran it with my teammate/roommate/friend Mooner, and we ran within a few seconds of each other the whole time (it's always good to have a friend around for 25 laps). We ran a good race in 36 minutes, which was our best for the year. We hadn't eaten dinner and we were starving by then, so we ran to an In 'N' Out that was across from our hotel. Each of us ordered a burger and a chocolate shake. We ate it as we walked back to our hotel. By the time we got to our hotel lobby, we'd eaten it all. And we were still hungry. So Mooner and I turned around and made a second trip to In 'N' Out and ordered the same thing (this was in the days before vegetarianism, of course). And here is my awesome shirt that reminds me of a fast 10k, my buddy Mooner, the smell of a rubberized track, and In 'N' Out burgers. The shirt now has a few holes in the armpit, a gaping hole on the upper back, a few holes on the front, etc. Scott calls it the "thong shirt" because he says it's been reduced to a piece of fabric held together by a few pieces of string. He threatens to throw it out pretty much whenever he sees it (but then again, I've threatened to throw out his nasty glasses).

What do you think? Is this shirt ready for retirement or simply a memory-filled running shirt with extra air vents?

5 Comments:

Blogger Strong Clan said...

I totally remember this meet and that race. I ran one of the worst races of my life...you on the other hand kicked some serious butt. I told coach after that race that I hated the 10k on the track. And do you remember the announcer at that meet he kept saying "This is the 25 lap festival of fun." I wanted to smack him the whole race!
What a great memory even for me. I laughed and smiled reading it.
Keep the shirt...

9:25 PM  
Blogger eldonmars said...

I don't remember tearing up your pants, and therefore did not do it. If I did then I'm sorry.

ps... everybody needs a really grungy shirt

9:44 PM  
Blogger The Elledges said...

if it reminds you of In N' Out definitely keep it :)

10:32 PM  
Blogger Katie said...

I have several of these shirts from our BYU days....it's just so hard to throw out good running shirts that carry good memories!

10:36 PM  
Blogger Beth said...

i see absolutely nothing wrong with that shirt that can't be fixed or at least appreciated for what it is. keeper.

8:19 PM  

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