Bloody What?

 Originally Posted on 12/16/12 (on another site)

I only got out running three times this week as opposed to the usual four.  A busy schedule combined with a couple days of crummy weather forced me to shorten the schedule, although I did buy a pair of gloves and a beanie and managed to put in a 10K on Friday even though it was chilly and windy.  That is, it was the southern California version of chilly and windy, which means it was below fifty degrees and the wind was blowin'.  Still, the hat and gloves proved useful.

Our topic this week is "Side Effects of Running."  When I started this project, I assumed that there would be an impact on my body.  I expected to pick up a few blisters (I have), sore muscles (definitely), and maybe even a twisted ankle or tweaked knee (minor, but it's happened).  What I did not expect, however, was to finish a run, remove my jacket, and discover two medium-sized blood stains on the nipple region of my shirt.  But lo and behold, after my long run last week, that's exactly what I found.

With about three miles left in that run, I noticed a dull soreness in my chest and thought that perhaps this was the beginning of a mild heart attack.  You're probably asking, as my wife did, "Now Chris.  If you were out running, and your chest started hurting, why did you not stop and call for a ride?"  Reasonable question.  I figured that a heart attack would be a sharp pain, not soreness.  So I continued on my run ignoring the potential warning sign which was the song "Hearts on Fire" playing on my iPod at the time.  Turns out it wasn't a heart attack at all.  It was nipple-chafing.

After seeing the bloody shirt evidence, I immediately went on-line and Googled "bloody nipples running" and here's what I found.  Be advised, this is somewhat graphic and very creepy.

Now, mine weren't nearly that bad.  But you get the idea.  As I soon discovered, chafed nipples are a fairly common occurrence in distance runners.  Fortunately, it's somewhat easy to prevent by using something called Body Glide, which comes in a stick that looks like deodorant and you just apply it to your chi-chis prior to your run.  I did that this morning, and it worked like a charm.

But wow, talk about a few minutes of the willies.  On the bright side, no blisters.