A Male Runners View on Shaving Your Legs

Now I think that I am a pretty progressive guy, but I recently found out that my son shaves his legs,

chest, and other places. Though both of us are runners, there are a couple of significant differences between us. The first is that he is young (24) and I am older (51). The second is that he is fast and I am not. When running a marathon, my goal is to stay within an hour of his time.

When I asked him why he shaves things, these were the reasons why:

1. It gives him an edge and makes him a little faster.

Though I understand the logic, I am not sure how a little less hair is going to make anyone a little faster. Swimmers shave and I get it because the hair can impede their speed. With running, however, I am not sure I get it. If it does, in fact, cut off some seconds from your time, I think I would rather opt for not stopping at one water stop or not peeing at mile 23.

As far as the edge, I think a recent conversation says it all. My son was running around our small town in a pair of running shorts and no shirt. He happened to run by the swimming pool. A few hours later, one of the girls that was at the pool, came into the bank where my wife works. As she was depositing money, she asked my wife a question.

“Is that your son that was running by the pool this morning?” she asked. My wife replied in the affirmative.

She had one of those goofy grins on her face when she said, “He’s looking mighty fine.”

My son with his shirt off creates crowds. Me, with my shirt off, makes crowds scatter. He definitely has an edge.

2. It eliminates the pain of hair pulling while you are running.

This I understand. I have been running down the road and had to stop because something was pulling something and it hurt. This occurs on a more regular basis during longer runs. Hair tends to braid itself and you have cornrows in places where corn should not grow.

It is my opinion that hair pain and getting kicked in the nether regions (yeah, you know what I am talking about) is a one way that men can be able to empathize with women and the pain of childbirth. (My wife, however, disagrees.) I know, it’s not the same, but you have to admit that there are some similarities. I specifically remember the time that the same son and I were goofing around, karate kicking each other, when a misplaced kick had me on my hands and knees, ready to hurl. I couldn’t breathe or talk, I was in so much pain. I really felt like I could have had a baby.

Okay the hair pulling thing doesn’t even compare. So consider this. Men were given hair for a reason; it covers things. When you shave it off, things get cold. That’s enough reason for me.

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