Serious runners pick up sexy skirts

Skirts make female athletics feel feminine.
KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
CHICAGO -- Pro triathlete Nicole DeBoom was out running when she glimpsed her sweaty reflection in a store window. "Damn!" she thought. "I look like a boy again!"
DeBoom had just the solution: a sexy running skirt, one that covered her "jiggling butt." So the Downers Grove, Ill., native launched Skirt Sports, which makes athletic skirts to "enable female jocks to feel pretty."
Decades after women fought for the right to sweat in boxy-looking shorts, skirts are making a comeback, a trend called "fashletics." Though skirts have always showcased good legs in tennis, golf and field hockey, designers are now creating them for sports such as running and biking. Skirt Sports sells five styles of poly/lycra blend skirts, along with coordinating tank tops (see skirtsports.com). Also, New Balance has unveiled its first running skirt, the Andare, and Nike sells skirts in its new Fitness Dance collection.
Under cover
The technical performance skirts, which have seamless shorts inside or "spankies," are not for girlie girls but for hard-core athletes who have long wrestled with the question: "Why can't I feel like an athlete and a woman?"
When women tried running in one, the most striking aspect was The Husband's enthusiastic approval. The skirt also was as comfortable as shorts; it didn't fly up or hamper performance. DeBoom, in fact, won the women's title the 2004 Ironman Wisconsin triathlon (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run) wearing her first racing skirt prototype.
Initially, DeBoom expected her skirts would appeal to "sassy women who want to make a statement." They do, after all, almost always attract a look or even a comment. But she found they're also appealing to high school students and women in their 60s who are excited and even nostalgic about going back to a skirt.
Spreads the word
Chicago's Dana Carman loves her skirt so much that she's become a "skirt ambassador" and tried to spread the word by posting a message on the Chicago Athlete Web site message board.
Still, some short-wearing athletes just don't understand the concept.
"It just seems out of place, like trying to make high-heeled running shoes," said Nancy Hopf, 42, of Naperville, Ill., a top age-group triathlete who can't imagine having a skirt bouncing off her thighs while she runs. "Now that would make one's legs look awesome, but try doing a (personal record) in them. ... I will stick to my running shorts."