Yesterday I completed my 10th half marathon. It was a rough day, very warm, and a good portion of the course was without any shade. There were a few miles (or kilometers, as I was in Canada) where I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish – but I did. Hooray!
Of course, you knew there’d be a BFD twist to the event, right? The twist happened at the race expo on Saturday afternoon. The first thing I did was pick up my bib and my t-shirt. Now, race t-shirts are always an iffy proposition when you’re fat. If you order a women’s size, chances are the shirt is going to be fitted and therefore too small. A men’s size will probably be giant, with “short” sleeves that reach all the way to my elbows, but at least I can wear it. This race didn’t give me the option of picking a men’s size, so I ended up with a women’s XL. Which was so tiny, there was no way it was going to fit. They let me exchange it for a men’s L (I would have taken an XL, as these shirts were super small and didn’t have any stretch to them – I actually saw several men struggling to get the shirts to go over their heads, the necks were so tight), and even that will barely go around me. Add it to the pile of race shirts I have that I will never be able to wear.
But what really irritated me is that I couldn’t find any official merchandise clothing to fit me. I always like to buy a shirt or jacket to commemorate a race. Well, the men’s stuff was all too big, and not cut for a woman, of course. The women’s shirts and jackets only went up to an XL, and that size was too small to fit me.
I finally ended up buying a hat. Because my head is an acceptable size, apparently. As I was paying for the hat, I said to the cashier that I was extremely disappointed in their size options. She said, “I know, when we were unpacking everything, I mentioned that there were way too many smalls and mediums.” I explained that I didn’t mean they didn’t have enough larges and extra-larges, but they didn’t offer bigger size options, to fit fat people. She said, “Well, these sizes are fine for most of the women here.”
Most women.
Well, you know what? “Most women” isn’t good enough for me. I trained hard to be at that race, and even more, I paid the same amount of money that every other person at that race paid. I should be able to wear the race shirt! And give you even more of my hard-earned money for merchandise!
I left that expo feeling completely disheartened, disappointed, and really bad about myself. The message I took from the expo was: Marathoners come in select shapes and sizes, and I am not one of them.
We need marathons to recognize that the shape of the “typical” marathoner is changing, and they need to accommodate many different sizes. The more welcoming racing becomes – in terms of course finish times and clothing opportunities – the more money races will make. That seems like a win-win situation to me.
In the meantime, while my shirts didn’t fit, my medal sure did!
