Days 2-5: The Touch, The Feel, of Polyester...

...it's the fabric of my gym life.

Dates: 2-6 January 2015

Before my first day in the gym, slated for 7 January, I diligently rummaged around my closet and dressers to find anything that might actually serve as 'athletic wear'. To my astonishment, I actually had two pairs of athletic pants hiding in the deep recesses of one of my dressers. It took me a moment to remember why I even had athletic pants, as I normally had no need for them. As it turns out, I had flirted with fitness and entered a tumultuous love/hate relationship with a treadmill at home several years ago (the relationship only lasted a few months) which drove the need for me to purchase something sporty. After a very brief stroll down fitness memory lane, I refocused my attention on the issue of my supply of athletic apparel; I realized that I simply didn't have enough appropriate workout clothing to support my soon to be 3-5 days per week of fitness training. For those of you who are straight and don't understand the gay world, I belong to a particular subset of gay men who believe that one should look their best whenever in out public, regardless of the reason one is going out--anything less is personally unacceptable. Translation from gay to straight: I needed to go shopping.

Being the frugal shopper that I am (I refuse to pay full price for anything if I don't have to), I went to TJ Maxx and Marshall's to see what they carried in terms of athletic apparel. Luckily, between the two locations, I was able to purchase several shirts and athletic pants, none of which contain fibers that occur outside of a test tube. I was fortunate that they had athletic pants in my two favorite colors: blue and grey (I just plain love blue, and grey will be a nice match with my hair--you can never match too much). Thankfully, I had purchased athletic shoes some time back as a part of my treadmill affair, and they thankfully coordinate with all of my pairs of athletic pants.

I was concerned that the clothing wouldn't be comfortable, especially since they are made of polyester (I had visions of the 70s running through my head). To my surprise, the pants and shirts are remarkably comfortable, and once on, actually look pretty good, which makes me just the slightest bit excited to be going to the gym. Honestly, if I'm going to humiliate myself publicly, I have to look good when it happens which will at least bring me some comfort as I hang my head in shame (see my reason in paragraph 1 for needing to look good)!

Though I am not being sponsored by either manufacturer, nor would they even consider doing so, I would like to thank Adidas and Reebok for making clothing that I don't look shameful in when worn in full public view--if I wore hats (they mess up my hair), my hat would be off to you!