Compression

Feels good.

I am getting there, feeling less rubbish but more dizzy however the worrying thing is my hips and just how bad they feel. After a few days I'm not hobbling like an old lady and going oooph argggh eeeek with every step but I felt like I could really do with some support for my hips while I work out the kinks so queue much research.

Normally my go to is kinesiology tape, I joke that it holds me together but this time i felt I needed something more and starting looking for some compression shorts, something to provide support but not prevent movement.

Oh my there are lots out there and in the end rather than saving money and picking a no brand cheap pair that I didn't really know would work for what I want or not I started looking at the big brands I recognised for compression sports wear. Skins being the most recognisable. Next step was did I want recovery or performance. Well actually I wanted both and the A200 range seemed to fit the bill. But and it was a big but you don't order by size but by BMI, now I am fat and this concept filled me with fear, sports wear that fits while not a complete challenge as I am just small enough to scrape into the XL category (sometimes even L, wanna know the scary thing that equates to around a uk size 16, small 18. Some brands an XL is actually a uk size 14, how crackers is that, fat people who want to get fit are body shamed before we've even set foot in gym or laced up a pair of trainers). Anyway I went to their website and there was a chart to find your size or a handy tool were you put in your height and weight and it tells you your size. It didn't come back with nope go away you are too fat, we don't want fat people wearing our brand how dare you, but told me what size to get. So I ordered a pair.

Oh they are lovely, they fit and they are wonderful and oooh so comfy and I could feel an instant difference, like a nice supportive hug.

My only grumble is they are black, I like bright coloured patterned creations, I am a loud voice that fat people should not be shamed into wearing 'flattering' black, I good pattern can hide your wobbles and be far more funky, this will be the first time I've had black since discovering I could fit into more funky stuff.

Now to scale back and find the right balance, it's hard. One illness says crawl into bed, another illness (or just an aspect of the first illness I'm still not totally sure) says but you need to keep muscle tone up or I'm just gonna take the cheats ways and stretch things that aren't really meant to be stretched but hey look isn't that so much easier than the hard way of building muscle, oh what you hurt now, oooh, ooopse, what do you mean you can't walk. And then when I get it wrong the first illness is like emergency override shutting off all non essential functions ... Hey what my brain isn't essential!? *sigh*

I sometimes think I am crazy mixing running and disability, it would be easier to give up (especially considering the lunacy that fatigue makes my illness worse and getting it wrong could cause me to crash completely) but then I like the shiny the medals and I love my zombies run app and the joy of being able to take the dog out, the prospect of being able to dress up (thinking poison ivy for MoRun this year) and that little bit of freedom that running gives.