Sportshop-aphobia

Thanks to my weight loss, a lot of my clothes are hanging off me (which I’m not complaining about). I was out for a walk yesterday and spent most of the trip pulling up my pants. My friend told me she rolls her son’s waistband to keep slightly larger clothes up – so I tried that but then ended up exposing my ankles to the cold spring wind!

My mission for this weekend was simple… Buy some new workout clothes. Now this task wouldn’t faze anyone, however it involved conquering one of my biggest fears… Sportshop-aphobia.

I think I’m an alright dresser – Anyone who knows me knows my love for stripes, bold colours and check shirts. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t own any branded sportswear. The two tracksuit bottoms I had were from Penneys/Dunnes and were very generic in their look/shape/feel.

My aim for the weekend was to buy two new (smaller waisted) bottoms and maybe a top/jacket too. As I was spending the weekend in Limerick (which is essentially the birthplace of casual-sporty wear) you would imagine my objective would be easily realised…

No!

I went into Elvery’s in the Cresent Shopping Center and felt immediately intimidated. First off I was wandering around the women’s clothes (I was thinking there was a lot of pink), then I found myself looking at shorts, cloth-y tracksuit bottoms, then I was looking at hurleys.

I knew I didn’t want to wear a new two-piece tracksuit as I would look like a complete newbie/spanner so I avoided them. I knew I didn’t want shorts as I don’t think the world is ready of my jelly JUST yet.

I found the ‘running’ section only because the clothes actually had ‘Running’ written on the tag but everything seemed a bit… skintight. Other items of clothes had ‘Base Layer’ written on them – Does that mean they go under clothes or they are the only layer?

Anyway, I was so confused and overwhelmed by the whole experience, I quickly fled the shop before someone came over talking to me/reported me for loitering.

My next stop was Lifestyle where the shop assistants were too busy talking about last night ‘out on the town’ to care about the customers in the shop. Confused and even more scared, I found myself in Costa Coffee discussing the function of Sports clothing with my other half.

I think my fear is two-fold:

1. I don't know what I am looking for and therefore could be sold a heap of stuff I don't want/need/know how to use
2. I don't know what is worth spending the extra money on? Do I really REALLY need a tight 'Dry-Fit' top? Do I need those skin-tight leggings? Do I actually need that heart-monitoring watch thing?

I know if I was left alone with the right opportunist shop assistant, I'd end up looking like this and thing I was shit hot.

Equipped with my other half, we went into another sports shop where he picked stuff for me and I gladly queued at the counter and paid. I am now the proud owner of a single pair of tracksuit bottoms as I felt buying two would stress me out too much.

What is wrong with me? My Sportshop-aphobia is crippling me!