Every so often you have one of those little discoveries that change the way you run. It might be too early to say Udderly Smooth is one of them, but so far it has proven that it could be right up there with shoes and water.
My first experience with Udderly Smooth came midway through a 54k run on the North Shore trails in February. It was cold and a little damp with light snowfall and by halfway I could feel the tell-tale burn from my inner thighs. Damn!
The thought of heading out for another 27k loop had me nervous, so I asked my buddy Mike Palichuk if he had any BodyGlide, and next thing I knew we were acting out a badly-scripted television commercial.
“No BodyGlide, but I’ve got this,” he said, chucking me a small white container of Udderly Smooth Udder Cream.
Really?
“Oh yeah! I swear by the stuff. It’s all I use.”
For chafing? Really?
“Yep, I never use anything else. Give it a shot.”
I was desperate and had nothing to lose by trying it so I put all modesty aside and slapped some on.
I should point out that neither Mike nor I have what one would call prototypical runner’s legs, those long, skinny things that keep Kenyan torsos from dragging in the dirt. Mike is a former hockey player and I’m a former rugby player so we’ve got big thighs, and big thighs can mean big chafing after hours of running, sweat and nylon shorts take their toll on the epidermis.
Not once through the second half of the run did I feel the burn, and by the end of the run I’d even forgotten I had started to chafe. Sure, it was partly because I had just run 33 miles and was freezing my ass off, but even in the shower later, when the blast of hot water usually ignites even the smallest patch of inflamed skin, I felt nothing. No redness or any sign of chafing the next morning when I headed out to lead my marathon clinic through a 23k run through the streets of Vancouver. No. Nothing. Nada.
Really.
Fast forward to this past weekend, when I took my marathon clinic on a 32k run to New Westminster in light rain. Uh-oh. But wait! I had one lone sample packet of Udderly Smooth I’d picked up at a marathon expo years ago and gave it a shot. Again, twenty miles in the rain and not a hint of chafing.
I don’t know if I should dare ask why it works or just be grateful that it passed two big tests. So far. Since Mike and I are both headed to the Western States 100-miler this summer, we’ve got plenty of bigger tests to come.
After reading my tweets with Mike after that first run, the folks at Udderly Smooth generously offered to send us some samples so it looks like I’ve got miles and miles of Udderly Smooth field testing ahead of me. And maybe enough to share.