Supporting the Girls

Guest Blogger Jerry Allison

I never had problems with sports bras until the past year. Or maybe I didn’t know any better.  But your girls should not be bouncing wildly during a run.

Not only that but you have to replace your bras every 6 months to a year due to the elastic becoming too stretch out. Now when I heard this, my mouth dropped. Not only did I need to worry about replacing shoes, but bras too!

So last summer, when I began working at Pacers, I started trying out new bras. I tried the Vixen from Moving Comfort and liked it until the Leesburg 20k, when I found cuts and chafing on one of my girls. It was immediately scratched from the wear list.

Then I tried the lululemon 50 Rep bra, I liked it a lot. There was no major bouncing. I occasionally get chafing from it, but not like the Vixen.

In recent months, I’ve tried the Nike compression bra and liked it. The tight elastic band means the girls aren’t going too crazy.

And though these are the two I’ve found so far, I know there are more out there to try. What’s your favorite sports bra?

Tips for finding the right bra:

1) Try it out before leaving. Sizes differ from company to company so a small in Nike isn’t a small in Under Armour.

2) Look for high impact bras.

3) Do the bounce test. While trying on the bra, jump up and down and see how high the girls go. A good bra should keep the bouncing minimal.

4) For longer runs/races, use Body Glide or some anti-chafing product. It’s a ritual I started since my first marathon in ’07.