Boden running tights

Last December I was back in Peterborough and I’d gone to the local Parkrun. It was a frosty Saturday morning and parts of the route still had a thin layer of ice covering them. My dad had come with me and he waited at the start. As always at a Parkrun, it was a mixed and inclusive group of runners.

As the runners got ready for the start, lots of jumpers got shed revealing club vests and racing singlets. I was wearing two long-sleeve tops (one from Sweaty Betty and the other Lululemon). They weren’t going anywhere. It was cold.

We headed off on the two-lap route. I ran hard to warm up, but was careful to avoid the ice and ran partly on frosty grass to go round it. At the end of my first lap my dad shouted something to me that I didn’t quite catch. Half way round the second lap I realised it was that I was the first woman to go past.

I was the first woman to finish the Parkrun that Saturday. It wasn’t a blistering time, but an icy morning and it being a relatively new Parkrun helped. I still had both my layers on. I didn’t look like your typical fast runner. Maybe some runners were surprised at my position, given my outfit.

I wear many different combinations of clothes to run. Sometimes I line up at a race in short shorts and a club vest; sometimes I roll out of bed, put on a pair of cleanish shorts and a beer festival t-shirt to do a few miles; sometimes I wear non-traditional sports brands like Sweaty Betty, Lululemon, Boden or Onzie.

We’ve all judged someone’s ability to run based on their outfit at times. If you’ve been to a certain Parkrun in South London and seen a guy turn up in a shirt and formal work shoes, you’ll definitely have. And maybe we’ve been judged ourselves.

Sometimes pulling on your club colours can feel like a uniform. It makes you feel part of a team and prepares you mentally for a race. Sometimes you want to wear clothes that don’t feel like running clothes, clothes that make you stand out or that help you blend in. But clothes can’t make you faster or slower; you’re always the same runner underneath. I try not to take them too seriously.