by Susan S. Flaherty

Created on: June 11, 2009   Last Updated: June 12, 2009

I am a recent convert to the world of shorts. And frankly, it's all about me, but perhaps not in the way you might think.

I am forty-four years old-long past the age when I thought I might want to show off my legs. When I was young and toned, I didn't realize I had anything to flaunt. Now, when I see teenage girls or young women out and about, I know I looked better than I thought I did. Youth is amazingly unappreciated by anyone under forty.

I've always enjoyed sports but have never been a jock. And I always hated the conditioning part of athletics. But when I nearly keeled over after racing my nine-year-old in a 50 yard dash, I knew it was time to get to the gym.

I always used to cover my legs, especially during sports. I figured the bulk and restrictiveness of sweats and yoga pants was just part of the price for hiding my flawed form. Then, one day I tried some fancy, new sports shorts a neighbor was going to give to charity. They were the ones with the panties built in. I will never wear, hot, heavy, restrictive exercise pants again!

Especially those cotton sweats and yoga pants. I had always been told "the touch, the feel of cotton" was somehow magical and far more healthy for those delicate female parts. (Forget those skin-tight, new aged pants. I didn't want all those bumps being hugged in public). But my new shorts, man, they breathed! Not like people claim Gortex breathes, but more comfortable than skin-collecting the perspiration just long enough to evaporate away. Exercise, at its best, gives one a sense of freedom and power. It's hard to feel either of those in heavy sweats, rubbing between your legs, absorbing every ounce of sweat and becoming heavier the longer you work out.

So I put vanity to the side and decided to put my personal comfort first, wearing my shorts whether I'd shaved recently or not! To my surprise, now that I could see my legs, I noticed something new-maybe not immediately, but more quickly than I would have thought. The more regularly I exercised, the more toned my legs became. When I started to do resistance training, the muscles became noticeably larger and more defined. My gams weren't too shabby for a middle-aged lady!

Finally, I was working out not because I was ashamed of my body, but because I realized how cool it was to be fit and strong. I don't know if that would have happened had I continued to cover myself in those long, hot sweatpants!

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