Tuck Takes Off

Hi jocks and jockettes,

Summer is a great time to reconnect with sports you love and I’ve been on a tennis jag lately. It’s been awesome – my forehand has been working and the net is becoming not quite as much a nemesis.  Yay! When tennis clicks it feels great!  In fact, every inch of me is happy on the court…from the ankles up, that is. Though I’ve tried to shake it off, there is no denying that the friction from tennis’ aggressive lateral, quick start-stop running turned the skin on my feet into chopped liver.  OUCH. And in the finest Red Sox tradition (Curt Schilling pitching in 2004, if

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you recall), well,  I bled through my socks during a really long match. Really.

As Carly once sang, I haven’t got time for the pain, so the next time I hit the court, I preemptively wrapped up in BandAids,  but they soon dislodged and I “Schillinged” all over again. What a mess! Yeesh.

Luckily, there was a solution: Body Glide.

Body Glide is an anti-friction/anti-chaffing balm I learned about when I trained for a marathon. It’s rather an open secret in the running world that friction does a number on your skin. Body Glide is designed to protect your skin when you work out- the combo of sweat, fabric and repeated motion can cause blisters and chaffing – and this is an easy and effective cure.

Body Glide! This cheap stuff (around $5-7 at Super Runners and CVS) is magic. Just goo it!

When I ran long distances, I’d put Body Glide on the inside of my thighs (so they didn’t rub together or against my shorts), on my skin around the armholes of tank tops (swinging my arms back and forth for 15 miles could leave red angry welts) , and also on the areas of my shoulders where bra straps would rub. Marathoner guys put it on their nipples so they don’t get skinned by their shirts (trying not to imagine that one…) and I hear some very overweight people use it on skin folds, say, around their middles so they don’t get rashes.

And so -LIGHTBULB – I slathered it on my feet before I hit the courts last weekend and after 2 hours NOT ONE BLISTER appeared. My feet were as soft and smooth as a baby’s bottom.  (Is this entire post TMI?)

None of this was a surprise for my tennis partner that day, my fitness hero/good friend, Ironman triathlete Jeanne Meyer. Body Glide is the go-to-goo for her racing team, Terrier Tri, and she says they practically bathe in the stuff. So learn from my earlier mistake, and smear, baby, smear.  Do you have a skin saver we should know about? Do  tell…  xxoo S     PS – CVS sells small versions of Body Glide you can carry in your bag…don’t leave home without!