From the archives…
A lot of you are newbie runners.
Wait a few years.
All those ZOMGS SPARKLE SKIRTS and other things you wear? They’re gonna look funny in a few years. Like any other trend.
When you can add teenage awkwardness on top of this shit, its even funnier. (And probably kind of sad considering I’m, well, ugly.)
Anyhow…take a look:
So sexy.
May 1994. I’m a freshman. So fucking hot. Glasses! Split shorts with white briefs inside! Basketball jersey as singlet tucked in! A scrunchy!
This was a 1500 meter race. If I remember correctly, I was in the second of three heats (top 6 seeds had their own heat) and was outleaned for the win. I ran maybe…5:13? I ended up 7th overall so I didn’t place and I was pissed because had I not been outleaned, I would have gotten a ribbon.
But bitches, I bounced back and got a ribbon in the 3000 later that day. 11:20 maybe?
Here I am getting my award!
Even sexier.
I’d like you to take note of my outfit. I still have that t-shirt! And it’s still way too big, even though I am much fatter now. Also, note the boxer shorts. This is what us kids wore back in the early 90s. CRAZY.
Lets fast forward a few months.
I wish I could say I’m less ugly now. No. Just a more “current” sort of ugly.
October 94.
They gave us lighter singlets (At my urging. We paid for them!), but the men’s splits shorts are still there. I don’t know what the hell is up with my hair. Still don’t have contacts. I was actually in really good shape at this point, but as you can notice…I’m not exactly tiny. This is also right about the time my coaches started saying “Hey, did you notice you’re heavier than all the other girls? Maybe you should think about that.” But that’s an issue for another day.
And finally…
ELAINE HAIR!!!
May 95. Whatever weird ass shit was going on with my hair in the LAST picture had grown out, but if I recall it was layered somehow so I couldn’t really get it back into a pony tail. Hence, ELAINE HAIR. It’s hard to see, but the front part is poofed up and the rest is just…there. No ponytail. I got sick of this and started improvising with more rubber bands but for this race..there it is.
This was another 1500, if memory serves me. (I either ran a 5:13 or a 5:09.) You’ll see that the basketball jersey is back. There were 60 girls on our track team (as opposed to the dozen on XC) so we had to go with what the school gave us. Those shorts are from the 80s though. They were less poofy than the ones I had on in the last three pictures. They were also less poofy than my hair.
Also, I finally got contacts.
Still ugly as fuck.
17 years later, that ugly part still holds. Except I’m now ugly and approaching middle age.
But you see, this shit is why I don’t really care what I wear when I run. Years later, it’s gonna look stupid. We knew our track uniforms were ugly back in the day. The difference is its now ugly AND dated.
And this, newbies, is what you can look forward to.
If you have old pictures? POST THEM. PLEASE.
Also, if you’re gonna be a creeper and comment on my looks? Don’t fucking email me directly, post it here so others can see what a creeper you are. Also, recall I’m 14-15 years old in these pictures, so if you feel the need to comment on it you’ve got issues.
That was depressing. I’ll be 38 in a few weeks. Ugh I get all the styles and references in your post. Thanks for the reminder.
I remember my track coaches pulling out some pictures of themselves in the mid 80s that we laughed at during this era. One said “wait a few years, people will be doing this to you!”
ITS TRUE
No, I know! Just yesterday I had to fill out paper work for some of our employees and their birthdays are in 19 freaking 92!!!! I kinda had a “come apart”. Sometimes it’s like…Whats the point of it all? What’s worse is that I’m just as dillusional because I don’t think I’m that much older than our 20 yr old college students. Le sigh.
I hear you. I have a friend who is only 21 and I’ve made comments like “no, people REALLY were scared that the Russians would roll tanks over the Canadian border and kill us” that got responses like “I read about that in history class.”
KILL ME NOW.
I think the guy in the Sandy Creek shirt is checking you out while you are getting your award.
That’s a girl!
I wore boxers to soccer practice through 2001, junior year, when my Australian coach made fun of me. You are obviously adorable, just like Elaine, and whoa, fast. I have a few high school track photos posted on my blog “about me”….if I post them again I will be called out for narcissism, so no dice.
lolz – do it anyway. My tactic is always “hey, I’m ________ so lets discuss X!”
I’d fuck you. <3
Totes going to dig out all my old XC pics when I go see my parents next month!
Would you fuck me hard?
SO HARD.
Sorry, I just have to say that I love you forever for posting these photos, and the ones in the last post. I know I have some old x-c and track photos that would curl your hair, but they’re at my parents’ house and lord knows I’m not going through all the emotional drama/three-figure therapist bills involved with visiting my parents just for a few old hideous photos
I graduated HS in 1994 and used to dress just like that chick behind you in the 3rd photo: super baggy t-shirt under too-big singlet (I always ended up wtih a boys xl singlet) + shorts over leggings. Singlet tucked into leggings, obvs. Smokin hot!
Who were we to know these early 90′s fashion trends would look so fucking stupid 20 years later? ;p
They looked fucking stupid then as well! I mean part of it was general fashion trends but at least in the instance of t-shirt under singlet + leggings + shorts it was just general cluelessness and/or body insecurity. Also I never figured out that blow-drying your hair makes it 500% less corkscrew-y…and I had bangs (WHY GOD WHY)…and good personal grooming goes a long way toward cancelling out grotesque fashion choices.
Elaine hair!!! Omg… you were the coolest person ever.
All my pics are back home (whomp whomp), but I definitely rocked the slouchy socks with tennis shoes back in the day. THey were so hot. I was also part of the pack that had her hair braided every which way before games/meets. Shame…
Did you have team theme days??
I pretty much think anyone approaching middle age who has been running since they were 14 is cool.
I’ve got running pictures that date back even further. The 7th grade shots where I had a mullet are pretty clutch.
Interesting pics. You look to be the same runner as the recent one in the green crop-top — same arms but better posture these days. You’re not ugly by the way. Hey, 5:09 is a pretty decent time for a 1500 as is 11:20 for a 3000. Must admit those original singlets aren’t great — would have done a good job of hiding bra straps (which was a rule in the old days). I have equally funny photos — tiny 80s-style shorts and tight singlets. Must scan them one day.
Funny you should mention that. At one point they actually laid down a rule that bras had to be a solid color. A team we often ran against won the 4×800 in the state meet and was DQs because one girl had stripes on her sports bra! They were reinstated later but how absurd…
We had sports bra rules too. I think they had to be solid colored and dark.
Anyways, I love this post. We had the same uniform as you (dif colors obviously) until my junior year and then we all got bunhuggers to race in. As another fat member of the xc team, this was particularly….unsightly!
I’m not sure that’s a trend though. Let’s be real, the only people who can rock runderwear are the elites in any decade.
Wait … are you saying that scrunchies aren’t cool?
“Beaver River.” LOLZZZ.
And you bitches need to cork it. I was a freshman in 1974, and I had a perm that made my hair look like a brillo pad. I wore smocks and saddle shoes.
I love this post. I have a few pics at home, but nothing that comes close to this. My parents didn’t make many of my meets. Whaaa, whaaaaa. I will see what I can dig up and post.
My favorite part of track and CC uni’s was the boys wearing boxers under their short split shorts. Klassy.
The singlet in your third pictures looks odly familiar. They were either unisex or our coach’s stinginess rings true after all these years.
I love the Elaine hair, did you ever do the Elaine dance after crossing the finish line?
As a non-sporty child, I am spared many of these sorts of photos. Mine are all from dance competitions, which are their own kind of embarrassing, but the trends don’t really change. (It’s still sparkles and slicked-back bangs, if Dance Moms is to be believed). BUT I do remember the boxers-as-gym-clothes thing, and we used to wear them — with a rolled-over waistband, of course — over leotards in dance class.
5:09 1500 as a freshman? damn now i feel slow.
really love the elaine hair!
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/198060_1003652339480_8806_n.jpg
this is an 800 i ran in my junior year. i definitely ran over 3:00.. ouch. i look pretty much the same now except i’m fatter. (and i guess taller too..) nothing dated yet. let’s give it a few years
This is depressing, but I need a little cynicism to cheer me up. Are you ever going to do a post? Just need to know.
These are great photos
) I have no such photos – at that age I was considerably fatter than thou and relegated to Shot Putt. I did OK at cross country because I actually hauled my flapping thighs round the course instead of going for a cigarette in a hedge like the cool girls. I didn’t have an awesome haircut, unless you count the time my Dad cut eye-holes in my Betty Paige fringe. I ended up here because I did actually google running skirts… See, my beer gut is getting a tad cold and wobbly – I am convinced its lack of aerodynamic properties is responsible for my slow times – and the hipster capri-pants / clingy dry-fit jersey combo ain’t helping… I’m on the verge of creating sweat-wicking preggers-belt things to keep my gut toasty warm (yet with just enough give for the post-race pie and ale). I wonder if the XL-T-shirt look can be resurrected…