I ran marathons in my twenties and thirties. It was the 1980s, and one thing every long-distance runner learned fast, usually the hard way, was this: before a long run, you rub Vaseline on your nipples. It wasn’t a secret. It wasn’t glamorous. It was just the kind of practical knowledge that got passed down between runners, the sort of thing nobody had to explain twice.
This year, Vaseline made it official. The brand became the London Marathon’s sponsor for chafing protection — sanctioning, in front of 50,000 runners and everyone watching, a ritual that’s existed in running culture for decades. My first reaction was something like: it’s about time.
