I shaved my legs last night for the first time in my five year triathlon career. I always said I’d never do it, but I gave in and took the plunge. I am planning on doing the Duke iron-distance race next weekend, and I was toying with the idea of shaving because of that race. I mean come on, you can’t do an IM or iron-distance race with fuzzy legs, can you? I told a training partner that I was considering shaving. “Yeah, you need to do it,” he said. “If you go up there with hairy legs, they’ll think you’re queer.” Interesting, I noted. If people will think I’m queer because I don’t shave my legs, what does that say about my chosen hobby?
I had wanted to shave before the race I did last weekend, but I didn’t get around to it. Last night, I was on the trainer, and I decided that my post-trainer shower would be a good time to shave. I had already informed my wife that I would be shaving in the near future, and she would need to help me. She said she would, but only if she could tell all her friends at work.
I decided to shave while she was asleep. That way, she wouldn’t help me and might not tell all her friends at work. Yeah, right. She’s a teacher, and I bet the whole school knows about my leg shaving by now.
I didn’t really know what I was doing, having never shaved my legs before. I just got a couple of razors, some shaving cream and went at it. I did my right leg first, and that went pretty well. One small nick near my knee, but nothing major. My left leg didn’t fare so well. I guess I was getting in a hurry to finish. I wound up hacking my left leg up pretty good. Three nasty cuts, including one on the back of my leg that bled for 20 minutes. Shaving cream and blood running together makes for a rather nasty looking mixture.
I don’t exactly know how long it took me to shave my legs, but I was in the shower a long time. Once out, my newly shaven legs felt very unusual. Felt even stranger when I got in the bed. This morning, when I told my wife what I had done, she laughed hysterically.
Men shaving their legs is not an accepted practice in my family.
I went for a swim this morning and the sensation of hairless legs in the water was yet another new experience for me. I didn’t like it at first, but after a few laps, I got used to it.
So what will this lead to? I don’t know. Unless my wife really likes me having hairless legs, I’ll probably let the hair grow back after the race. I don’t know that I’m really into shaving my legs. It takes too long, and I feel kind of goofy. Of course if I don’t get any better at shaving, I’ll have to let the hair grow back to cover up all the scars.
RP
