I know what you mean about being careful with your gear. I make a conscious effort to not have 2 of the same brand (Adidas/Nike/Brooks/Asics)on at the same time when I'm in the gym. I just don't like the whole brand co-ordination thing and don't want to look like an advertisement for any 1 brand in particular.

Funny as I'm quite anal in other areas.

I much prefer running in singlet tops to t-shirts. My favourite is a James and August t-bar backed singlet that is getting thinner by the day - making it all the more cooler and lighter to train in. It's the only green top I own and I didn't buy it as a running top, it just eventuated into one. I generally always run in my comfy three-quarter adidas running leggings. I find event t-shirts are always too short for me.

I tip I heard (and seems to be working for me) for keeping out lingering smells is to add some vinegar to the wash...

Don't often wear cotton as it really isn't compatible with the amount I sweat...

Surely avoiding matching is *just* as lame as matching?? I have a pair of adidas tights that I love, and nothing else comes close. So if I want to wear any of my "free" race tops, I'm going to have to match. I don't fight it. The womens' ones are often waaay too short for my long torso, so ever since the Auckland marathon sent me a men's top in 2007, I've ordered the dude version.

I prefer to run without sleeves. My favourite running tops are my active intent cotton singlets (yes- cotton, but it's fine when it's sleeveless) and a couple of sleeveless (but not "singlet-style") tops I've recently picked up from race expos.

I detest two things. (1) Any piece of clothing with writing on it (I'm not a billboard so unless you want to pay me to carry your brand forget it) and (2) men in lycra. Seriously guys, you say if we girls wear anything a bit low cut or a bit short we're doing it to be looked at (and sometimes you're right) and at the same time you run or bike in lycra. It might by comfortable but please guys, cover it up. Unless we're more than good friends, I don't want distractions, I want to look you in the eye.

The vinegar (white of course not malt) goes in the wash cycle, not the rinse cycle. Although I have a friend who swears by a little white vinegar in the rinse cycle for towels. She insists it removes any soap residue which stops the cardboard towel effect. I must try it.

Another tip someone once gave me is treat your used training gear like your mushrooms and potatoes, i.e, always keep it in a bag that can breathe.

I like the logos...

I tried a running skirt last year and now have 3 and rate them highly for comfort and flattery- can't go wrong with an a-line :). I got ones with big pockets rather than the wee coin pockets, so I can easily get to my food on long runs. I don't miss having to go foraging around in my camelback for snacks as this inevitably involved meeting up a partly squashed banana (sometimes from last week's long run...), so I'm sold on skirts for a number of reasons. Only had one or two comments along the lines of "late for tennis?"

I quite wish more events would have singlet options rather than t shirts 'cos any weather above about 10 degrees and I'd rather be running without sleeves (although maybe with the addition of my removable-sleeve adidas jacket if there's a typical welly wind at the same time). And speaking as very much an hour-glass shaped woman, "unisex" shirts look pretty frickin' awful on me - so much so that I have yet to wear the race shirt from my very first half marathon because it looks so terrible.

When all's said and done though, I try to ignore fashion to some extent when it comes to my running gear. I want something that a)doesn't cost the earth b)doesn't chaff too much (although pre-emptive applications of vaseline does the trick normally) and c)is preferably not too nippley (for a shirt - kinda unavoidable in a lot of wicking fabrics though). Function over fashion and that's why I brave the random comments about pirates to wear a bandanna running 'cos it absorbs the sweat and keeps my hair under control without trapping too much heat.

Sam #5

I am struggling to understand your problem of men wearing lycra. Surely the problem is with you and not the wearer of the clothing? To blame a guy, for your inability to control yourself because of the clothing he is wearing is detracting from the issue. I also note that you have no issues with women wearing figure hugging clothing, despite the sometimes huge amount of acreage being covered there.

If you are having trouble with the issue of being able to look people in the eye, despite what they are wearing, then surely you should talk to the experts, Men. We will quite happily show the techniques we have had to acquire over the years to be able to get over the issue of women wearing skimpy outfits and yet still be expected to look them in the eye. Techniques and methodologies that would be included are: You're going to be punished anyway, so get a good look. Don't worry, from a distance it is hard too prove if you were looking at their breasts or eyes, (okay, for this you might have to stand further away than what we need to get the angle right). Is there an issue? Not from where I'm looking. Close the mouth, don't drool, and watch out for the lampost - the mantra of man.

@Kelvin2 - Preach it brother!