Censorship and Humor

A friend of mine, Heather, who I used to coach and who is now a running coach herself, posted a pretty funny cartoon yesterday on Facebook. It was of a woman in a Zumba class realizing too late that she should have worn a better sports bra.  I didn’t see the original cartoon I just saw the post Heather made explaining how one of her ‘friends’ on FB had reported it as offensive and it had been removed.  

She was livid, as I would have been, and as all her true friends on FB were.  The comments and other cartoons that were posted on that thread were hilarious.  It reminded me of a drawing I did long ago in a random sketchbook so I went and found it. I had never scanned it or posted it because it had all sorts of other random sketches all around it and even overlapping it.  But I decided if ever there was a time to scan it and work on it, today would be the day.  So, here you go Heather, my homage to you and your great sense of humor!

But Seriously Folks…

Having run now for about 15 years and having coached runners for about 5 I can’t tell how many times I have wanted to suggest to a runner they might want to get a new, better sports bra.  I obviously don’t know the physical discomfort and pain associated with running with a pair of breasts bouncing on my chest but I don’t need to feel it to know it’s got to hurt!  

Since I don’t feel comfortable saying that to a woman I don’t know really well, I instead will do two things. One, while I talk about running gear in one of the clinics I lead I will make a general announcement to the entire group about the importance of getting fitted for a good bra.  And two, I ask my female coaches to be extra alert to their female participants who they think need a better bra.  I want them to talk to them about it and offer help in finding one.  Now, if the person in question is a good friend of mine? I have no problem saying, “uh…you’re going to give yourself a black eye with those things, you need to get a better bra!”

Is This You?

Just in case you don’t think you are in this category of needing a better sports bra check out this excerpt from the online article ‘How to find the perfect Sports Bra’ from Fitness Magazine.

When we polled top bra-fitting pros for the number-one mistake women make in choosing a sports bra, they were unanimous: wearing a smaller cup and larger band than you need. Sure enough, nearly every tester whom FITNESS sent to the specialty shops Intimacy and Linda’s Bra Salon in New York City for fittings returned with a two-inch-smaller band and a larger cup size — As and double Ds alike.

Pretty amazing, right?  Here is the rest of the article.  You can simply google ‘sports bra fitting’ to find a slew of other articles about it.

Where I work, at Fleet Feet in Tulsa, we have dedicated apparel and bra fitting specialists and that makes it very easy for women to conveniently find the bra they need. Obviously most of you are not in Tulsa but Fleet Feet stores are around the country and if one is not close by there is a running or specialty store that can help you, you just have to look it up.

Back to Funny

Here is the original cartoon Heather posted. It’s by Fernz Cartoons.

And here is one that was posted on the thread.

If you have other cartoons or funny stories about sports bra disasters, send them along, the Napkin Kin would love to see and read them!

Original drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman