Picture this.
It was just another Saturday morning. I was on a run with my cross country team. Few groups were ahead of me, while a group or two trailed me and my teammate. We were running along Highway 421, located near the southern Indiana-Kentucky border. It was a stunning, yet hot, morning with temperatures already hitting the upper 80's as we started our run.
Normally, when my team groups up for the beginning of our run, we start off in similar attire. We come ready to practice with shorts and t-shirts on. Then, after our warm-up and stretching routine, we shed layers. It's 80-something degrees out with who knows how much humidity in the air. Little to none of us have shirts on, leaving us ladies in a pair of shorts and some brand of sports bra, complete with our plethora of different color of running shoes.
Like I said, it was another Saturday morning and we were just a team trying to get our long run in for the week. Most of us were stripped down to our sports bras and shorts, running along Highway 421. My teammate and I were talking during our run when we heard some yelling. We checked behind to make sure everyone was ok, but then realized the calling was coming from this residential area below us. A man and his presumed girlfriend were down there on their moped. Simply, no big deal until they passed us, and the girl yelled up at us, "hey whores, why don't you put on some shirts?", with her assumed boyfriend saying, "yeah put on a shirt, whores."
At the time of this, all of us on the team kind of laughed it off. Other teammates said they got people driving by noticeably slower, getting an extra long stare from some, and receiving other comments, whistles, etc. It was just another day in being a runner basically.
But, the thing is, this shouldn't be "a thing" at all. Us, as runners and more importantly as women, should never be called whores. Honestly, what does a so-called whore even look like? Apparently to some small-minded individuals, a group of cross country runners simply clad in shorts and sports bras are whores. A girl in a bikini could be called a whore. I mean a fully-clothed woman could be called a whore. Any women could be slapped with that gross title. There's no concrete definition of what constitutes a whore, through dress or action. It's just some degrading label someone on this Earth came up, and now we all just throw it around freely. It's mean. It's uncalled for, just like any other derogatory term that comes out of our mouths. It also makes me think if I was physically closer to the people, what would of they have done to me? Would they have tried to zoom around me and attempt to hit me? Would they still have cat called me? Was it just a proximity complex that they decided they could go ahead and start my Saturday morning off on the wrong foot?
To be honest, I like running without my shirt. It's freeing to be doing what I love while getting a good workout and not have to wear globs of clothes. It's a similar feeling to when you were younger when it was time for a bath, and you stripped yourself down then did a victory lap around the house. To be honest, running kind of sucks. Yes, I do love running, but if running without a shirt is going to make this hellish workout a little better than I am going to do it.
To the people on the little moped who apparently was deeply offended by me running without a shirt: I'm truly sorry. (Okay, I'm not really sorry, please notice the highly sarcastic tone.) But, honestly did you not think I was not going to be offended when you called me a whore just for running without a shirt? Let's just sit on our little mopeds and think about that.
