Skin Fury

I have been insanely lucky to be born with relatively clear skin.  I remember having some pimples and stuff in high school, and I have some freckles/sun spots, and I'm starting to get some wrinkles, but I generally don't deserve the skin I have, particularly on my face.  I'm horrible about washing my face before I go to bed.  I sometimes will swear to myself that I'll do better and I'll be good for a few days, but then there will be a night that I just feel too tired and the routine is broken.  But since my skin generally doesn't reflect the lack of care, there's not a huge incentive to do better (I also wear minimal make-up, usually just eyeliner and lipstick, nothing on my cheeks or anything).  And as for the rest of my body, I have plenty of freckles from being out in the sun too much, but generally I end up with a bit of color in the summer and am pretty good about wearing sunscreen. 

But right now, my skin, all of my skin, is hating me for no apparent reason. 

My face seems to be breaking out, or at least my forehead and near my nose. 

And almost 50% of my runs involve some horrible chafing hot spot. 

The face I think could be due to the fact that I have been eating like $hit for almost a week now.  My little Memorial Day short weekend trip was full of some very healthy foods and also some unhealthy ones.  I practically never eat chips but I ate a ton on Memorial Day, and then finished off the bag in the days that followed.  And I've been eating cookies like crazy since about Sunday -- my bestie's mom makes these awesome snickerdoodles and she sent me home with some leftovers, plus there have been cookies at the office. 

In terms of the junk food, I don't feel like I've directly paid any price in terms of my body.  My weight hasn't changed and everything still seems to fit normally.  And I'm still having pretty typical for me meals, at least since Tuesday.  And the chips are finally gone and there are only about 6 cookies left that I'm looking forward to enjoying in the next few days (or this afternoon!).  And then I expect I'll be back to eating like normal. 

But the chafing on the runs is killing me.  It's like become some grand mystery.  There are a few rules that I follow regarding chafing:

1. I always wear body glide on my problem spots on long runs, usually anything over about 15.
2. I do not wear the few items of clothing that seem to cause problems on long runs.
3.  I wear more body glide if I gain weight, even if it's just a few pounds that seem to stick around for a few days.

Right now, my rules have all gone out the window.

Yesterday morning, for example, I had a group run at 5:15 a.m., consisting of 7 miles, including 4 miles of progressive tempo (starting at marathon pace for the first one, then picking it up about 10 seconds each mile).  I wore pink shorts that rarely cause me to chafe on the middle of my back, right near a seam in the waistband.  Never had any other problems with those shorts.  And my weight is pretty stable, completely on the low end of my usual range right now. 

I ran the entire 7 miles without a single issue. 

I went home, had breakfast, watched the news, then set out for my commute to work (under 4 miles), wearing the same thing.

Within half a mile, I could tell that I was chafing on my inner thighs like crazy.

WTF? 

By the time I got to the office and got into the shower, it seriously hurt, and when the water hit my legs, I wanted to howl. 

I do not understand why shorts that never bother me would give me problems two hours after I ran seven pain-free miles in them.  Did a few added degrees make a difference?  Was it because my shorts weren't completely dry for my commute?  Was it because I run my commute at a slower pace than my group run?  Do the running gods hate me? 

Lately, I feel like almost any part of my body remotely near clothing, is subject to chafing.  Everywhere covered by my shorts.  Everywhere covered by my sports bra.  Everywhere touching my heart rate monitor.  Under my arms where they come in contact with the arm holes of my shirt.  Looking at myself right now, I seem to have chafing marks almost everywhere.  It's crazy.  Good thing I don't have anywhere to wear a plunging neckline in the near future. 

I just don't get it.  The simple solution I guess is to wear glide for every single run, but man, that would be a pain.  I just want things back to normal -- glide on Sundays for long runs, and no chafing on short runs with safe clothes.  Please?