An upfront acknowledgement: this is a stupid question; I know this, I have made peace with it.
I'm 24, male, a huge fan of the road runners of the 70s/80s. I am not a person who thinks much about my own appearance (beyond, ya know, basic hygiene) and certainly not about fashion. I am also a cheapskate, and while I'm lucky to have a good job that pays the bills, I'm hardly drowning in excess cash.
I think most affordable men's running shorts made today (BOA, etc.) look dumb and feel, at best, fine. They feel cheap, too, but the ones I buy are cheap, so fair play I suppose. Whenever I see pictures of runners from the 70s (Shorter, Rodgers, Beardsley, etc), I am jealous of their shorts. They look comfortable and they look cool (in both senses of the word).
A few years ago my mom gave me a stash of her lined Nike tempo shorts from the mid-2000s -- turns out I'm a women's large! I don't care that they're hand-me-downs from my mom, they're fantastic running shorts and they fit me perfectly. They also resemble the retro shorts I envy, at least on a shaggy-haired, lanky guy like me.
I have one pair of the Tracksmith Twilight splits that I managed to snag online for like $25. I adore them. I also refuse to pony up $75 for a pair of shorts. I've searched for "running gear similar to tracksmith," but could only find equally-pricey prepster fashion "running" brands.
Does anyone have recommendations for reasonably-priced running apparel that has this sort of look and fit? Or should I just stick to the women's shorts?
