• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Club Info
    • Weekly Training Runs
    • Strider Gear
  • Membership
    • Membership Payments

North Shore Striders

A running club welcoming all ages and abilities based in Beverly, Massachusetts

North Shore Striders
  • All News
  • Race Info
    • 2019 NSS and USATF-NE Grand Prix
  • Race Recaps
  • Running Topics
  • Club Business
  • Join the Striders!

Run Loud!

June 21, 2017 by Andrew Moore 1 Comment

By Mary Stevens.

Can a retail clothing company make it onto Mary’s Short List of Preferred Merchants, joining New England Running Company, Sherman’s and the bottlers of Moxie? Yes!

Recently I was walking around the post-race festivities at the Mount Washington Road Race, when the Handy Spandy tent found me. More accurately, several racks full of screaming-loud running togs caught my eye and wouldn’t let go. Closer inspection revealed running tights and shorts in prints vibrant enough to cut fog. No vague pastel pink or lilac here. (MY PEOPLE!)
“Where there’s that much swirly red, white and blue, psychedelic checkerboards, and electric lime and turquoise paisley, ” I mused, “might there also be … leopard? ”

Looking but not finding, I was nonetheless happy to buy a “subdued” pair of cosmic patterned tights for yoga. Since it never hurts to ask, I inquired of Handy Spandy proprietors Connie and Anna Conway, did they sell anything in animal print?

Yes, they do. Oh, happy discovery!!

The print is called “Real Cheetah,” and you can get tights, capris, long or short skirts, shorts or yes, skorts in nature’s best color combination … and plenty of others, none of them dull. Not only that, but all their apparel is made in this country (exotic New Jersey) and sold at very reasonable prices.

I ordered a pair from the Handy Spandy website, which is a fun read and features real people doing real workouts looking real sharp. The ordering process is fail-safe and pretty quick, and the size choices are sensible. I had my animal-print tights four days after ordering (and about 20 years of searching), and they’re just as excellent as advertised.

If your below-the-jacket running wardrobe has been stuck in a black-gray rut of drabness, or you’re looking for legwear that will help keep you safe during hunting season, I strongly recommend you check out the Conways’ operation, order up and pass it on … and get ready to hear “Ohmygod, I LOVE those tights!”

My “real cheetah” running tights won’t make me faster at the Moxie Day 5K in Lisbon Falls, Maine, next month, but they’ll make me louder.

Filed Under: Running Topics

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Linda Desjardins says

    June 27, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    Great post. I really enjoyed reading it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

North Shore Striders

North Shore of Massachusetts based running club welcoming runners of all abilities since 1974. Run with the North Shore Striders!

Visit us on FaceBook!

  • Facebook

Race Sites

  • Mill Cities Relay
  • USATF

Recent Posts

  • 2023 Great Stew Race Results
  • 2022 Chanukah Run-a-Latke 5K
  • 2022 Mill Cities Relay
  • Jerry’s Run for All Ages
  • NSS Sentinel 2.8
North Shore Striders

North Shore Striders

North Shore of Massachusetts based running club welcoming runners of all abilities since 1974. Come run with the North Shore Striders!

Club Officers

President, Jill Page
Vice President, Cheryl Welsh
Treasurer, Gary Freedman
Asst. Treasurer, Dave Newhall
Secretary, Betsy O’Brine
Membership, Jennifer O’Neil
Uniforms/Clothing, Laura Parrow
USATF Coor., Mike Pelletier
Webmaster, Andrew Moore

Copyright © 2023 · North Shore Striders - a running club for runners of all abilities.