Sisterhood of the Basket of Pants

This is a basket of pants.  I have splayed some of them out for your viewing pleasure.  Some are new and never worn.  Some are old favorites.  That striped pair peeking out on the left were worn on my first date with my husband, five and a half years ago.  Some are close to looking good, some button but look hideous, and some I cannot not even pull all the way up over my voluptuous thighs. As of right now, I will wear none of them in public.

Little known fact about me, if there were a show in the Hoarders series about being a pants hoarder, I would easily qualify for a spot on the roster.  I have a hard time stopping myself from buying pants.  I was 5'11" in the 8th grade, and 6'1" by my freshman year in college.  I have a 36 inch inseam and size 11 feet.  For most of my adolescence, I had no choice but to wear men's jeans, and many times men's shoes.  And while I don't have much to show for my gender up top, my lower half would definitely not qualify as manly.  Full thighs, full hips, full butt, smaller waist. So, as you might imagine, I spent my high school career wearing jeans that gapped and bunched at the waist, squeezed the crap out of my thighs and still barely managed to meet my Chuck Taylor's at the ankle.  I never really looked cool, but I really wanted to.

In the past eight to ten years, the clothing industry has caught on that women are getting taller.     The Gap, Banana Republic, J Crew and many others now make women's pants for online order with inseams up to 36, and I have shown my appreciation by ordering several pairs a year.  I wear them and I look pretty cool, as cool as you can look when you are 34 years old and still worried about such things.

My excitement over finally being able to wear pants to work instead of pantyhose (with that super comfortable gap below the crotch because they too were not made for legs like mine) or wear jeans that look like they actually belong to me is tempered only by my budget. So it is with heaviness of heart, and of other body parts, that I stare at this basket of pants on the shelf in my closet each day.  I long to once again reintroduce each pair of these pants, the ones that have survived the many Goodwill harvests, into mainstream society. First up, this pair here:

These are brand new Banana Republic jeans, Euro size 32 Extra Long, which I guess coincides with a US 14.  I am a pretty steady 16 right now, so these are my current goal pants. Right now, I can't quiiiiite get them on far enough to not show my underwear to everyone, so I will not be demonstrating just yet.  (Sorry, but I do have some pride.)  I will post monthly tabs on my progress with these bad boys, and once I'm into them, I have a gorgeous pair of size 12 tuxedo-style pants that I will introduce you to.  By then, this basket of pants will be passed on to another tall sister on her way down the size chart. 

Hit my calorie target today (within 100) but did not run.  I have been coughing so hard all day, and I really need that to go away before my half on Saturday.  I made an executive decision to skip my last pre-race run and stand by it, but feel horrible about missing so much running while I've been sick.