Happy Friday: Running Girl

Tomorrow I am embarking upon a 10km run. I have actually never run, walked, or run & walked 10km in my life in one go. I am nervous - I have had weird dreams of humiliation on the running track. It brings up all those memories from school, where I was just no good at athletics, I always felt like I was wasting my genetic inheritance. My whole family is pretty athletic, yet I can't run to save myself (this is why I should seriously do self-defence in case of attack - running is not an option I feel I can rely upon).

So, like any other fashionista would do, I decided that if I had a cute outfit on, perhaps this would inspire me sufficiently to get me to the finish line.

I have been applying gradual build fake tan for the past few nights in a bid to look as though I am frequently involved in outdoorsy activities like triathlons, hiking and the like (although I believe I now have a fantastic excuse for not mtn walking). Next is the outfit, obviously. Lorna Jane, an Aussie sports-clothing label for women (and now their kidlets) full of slogans designed to both inspire ("Never, never give up") and poke gentle fun ("I run like a girl") has been around for 20 yrs.

I have something of a love-hate relationship with LJ. For a long time there, it was rather naff to wear the clothes - they were a little American in design with slightly too-high waists (we like hipsters in the Southern Hemisphere) and, previously, the smearing of the LJ logo everywhere was just irritating - particularly because Lorna Jane is not synonymous with serious athletics like Adidas, Nike etc who I felt on that basis, were entitled to logo their clothes up. It was also associated, in my mind, with the type of people who make a New Year's resolution to join a gym and then kit themselves out head to toe in Lorna Jane, sweat for 10 minutes and give up. In my slightly dirty Cotton On outfits, which I proudly paid a total of $20 for, I smugly believed the outfit did not make-th the athlete, as I watched LJ-clad women drop like flies half way through Body Attack.

Ironically, this outfit-as-inspiration methodology is exactly what I am applying now in order to cajole my legs in to constant, 10 km movement this weekend. Thankfully, Lorna Jane has picked her act up in terms of styling: it's less soccer-mum-at-the-gym-for-10-minutes-followed-by-coffee-with-the girls-for-50-minutes. Someone has reduced the size and prevalence of the omnipotent logo and brought fashion into the line. I am loving the new look for Lorna Jane: