The Cut-Off Hoodie

It was Labor Day Weekend 2009 and a group of Columbia grads was up in Loon Lake, NY for a bachelor party celebration. I had made the trip up from DC, and was happy to be spending a weekend doing all things masculine. There was a lot of sports playing and a lot of unhealthy eating. Plus, there was my cut-off hoodie. I figured what better for a weekend amongst the guys than for a sweatshirt that keeps you warm and looks awesome, yet also shows off your muscles.

The cut-off sweatshirt turned out to be such a big hit, that Jon Pastore (the friend who was in Amsterdam this summer for one of the euro-posts) offered me $1000 for it (it was actually $60, but that’s still a lot). I obviously declined, and instead wore the sweatshirt at all times that weekend. Even over a flannel in an impromptu street race relay of Zach and I vs. Will and Kevin Verge (see above picture--albeit dark) that I was clearly on the winning team for. Needless to say, I love cut-off hoodies/sweatshirts of all sorts.

There was what some may call a ballyhooed frenzy over the picture at the bottom of my last post. It was an awesome sweatshirt. I am always on the lookout for a new cutoff hoodie. Meanwhile, the process of turning the arms coming out of those sleeveless wonders from linguini to sculpted rock continues.

And by ballyhooed frenzy, I really mean I have no idea what kind of reception the picture received (there was one comment from Joseph that said: “that’s bad-ass”….I’m assuming he was referring to the sweatshirt, not the lifting schedule). Viewership of the site neither ebbed nor flowed, and all in all it seemed to be a pretty normal week for runLBP.com. All except for the awesome news that I did get a new sleeveless hooded sweatshirt; it is bright orange, and it is legit. I do love myself a man-made cut off, but this one that has been hemmed to perfection is no slouch.

Recently, David Torrence posted a blog post about what we need to do to help track and field. No sleeve hoodies are a huge part of my life, and any time I get a shot at one I take it. I’m somewhat encouraged to race in one…maybe what the Fab Five’s long shorts were to college basketball, the cut-off hoodie will be to track and field.

For all of that to go to plan, however, I need to win me some races. So, I’ll keep working out, I’ll keep lifting so my arms look awesome without the sleeves, and I’ll try to win some races. Once sleeveless hoodies are the norm, track and field will be on the map.