Currently, our county—in fact the entire state of South Carolina—has begun the 2006 "Shrinkdown," a noble undertaking, though I wish they’d call it something like "Healthy Up." The media has essentially brainwashed the public that in order to be healthy, you have to be skinny.

This only serves to remind me that there is a major pet peeve that I have with retail stores that sell sporting goods. Please bear with me; I’ll get to it, I promise.

In August, I was just recovering from three weeks of being unable to do much of anything due to asthma and a toe injury. As soon as I was able, I started running and cycling on alternate days, and my fitness level bounced back quickly. Still, I had to push myself to get ready for the Spartanburg Humane Society’s Tour de Paws, a fundraiser bicycle ride in early September. A neophyte cyclist, I completed my first long ride—a 27-mile doozy over very hilly terrain—and felt great about myself both physically and mentally.

At the same time, I was pushed to get ready for bow hunting season. I got my new Matthews bow almost too late to get it sighted in before the season opener. September’s sweltering heat found me sighting in my bow and hanging deer stands. At one point, my golf cart broke down 2 miles from where I’d parked my car and trailer.

It was four o’clock with the sun high overhead and the temperature in the nineties. My friend and I had two miles to walk and one itty-bitty bottle of water to share. It felt like an episode of a new reality show: Survivor: Cross Hill. But I was able to make the hike in heavy hunting boots with energy to spare.

None of this is terribly remarkable for a fit person.

But I am an overweight athlete and sportswoman.

I’m not huge, just vertically-challenged and generously-proportioned. But to look at me, you’d never guess that I could hike and jog in the summer heat or ride a bicycle 27 miles—for fun! You’d never guess that I go into the woods and climb trees or that I can shoot the eyeballs off a gnat with a compound bow.

It becomes the most frustrating when I am shopping for clothes and equipment. I had to special order a bicycle that fit my stubby fat legs. I had to special order my compound bow, which is essentially a youth model. All the stocks on my shotguns and rifles have to be trimmed down.

As for clothes, they are impossible to find.

I feel absolutely ridiculous going into a big retail chain sporting goods store. They laughed at me at one store when I bought in-line skates. That’s right, they laughed. Salespeople overlook me. Sometimes I feel as though they are looking right through me—it’s as if I am invisible.

I won’t name the stores. I still shop there, but it is because I have to. Go somewhere and ask for exercise clothes in a women’s XL. They either don’t make them or the buyers for these mega-stores don’t buy them. They have plenty of XS, S and M. A few size L. Every once in a while a lonely XL.

And these are just the exercise clothes. When I try to find camouflage clothes and boots to fit me, it gets even more difficult.

My luck is just as bad in ladies sportswear. I like outdoorsy stuff--Columbia, Woolrich, North Face, Patagonia, even Carhardt. There are a few retail outlets for these type clothes in the Upstate that include the sporting goods chains and mom-and-pop stores. I don’t fare any better in the smaller retail stores than I do in the chains.

This prompted me to do some digging, because I seldom run across anything in a store larger than a size 12. Columbia and Woolrich both manufacture garments up to size 16 or 18. So they do produce clothes in larger sizes, though heaven knows where you can buy them. Other companies? Well, let’s just say I found a lot of XS and S sized women’s clothes…or those outrageous enough to say "one size fits most."

Manufacturers and retailers need to wise up to the fact that real women have real bodies in all shapes and sizes. Heavier women participate in life just like slender women do. And real women of any size should be able to go into a store and buy real clothes that fit—for any activity.

As for the Shrinkdown, I think more plus-sized women would happily participate in healthy-exercise-fresh-air-and-sunshine-activities if they could find something to wear! My take-home message is whether you want to call it a "Shrinkdown" or a "Healthy Up," participate in the things you love and really knock yourself out doing it, regardless of what size and shape your body is.