Tattoo

Cell phone shot. Not that great quality but you get the point.

Well, I did it! I got myself a new tattoo. :-) This is the 2nd this year and 10th overall. Wow. Usually I don't go for two in such a short time but these last two were so utterly important to me. They describe a part of who I am and how I define myself; a vegetarian and a runner.

Anyway, I had a whole blog post typed up back in September about the tattoo idea I had for running. In it, I was going to have the five different foot/shoe & wings images I found and was going to let to go to a vote to see which ones you guys went with. I know I would have only gotten like only three responses so after a few weeks and messing with one of them in Illustrator I decided I liked one better than all the rest.

Here were the options:

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

I was favouring option B. C was pretty close to B, but had a more toe stance. But since I kinda wanted this on the back of my ankle, I had to keep that in mind and decided to go with something that could wrap around my ankle.

So B was it but it looked a little off for me. After inverting it in Illustrator and going with the all black on the inside, I decided to get that one definitely.

Then as I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred again, I saw that she had wings on the outside & inside of an ankle. That got my wheels turning as well. However, after much thought, I decided to stick with my originally idea since I've seen so many shirts & logos with the same shoe/wing combo. If you're in track or running, you know what this means. Just having wings on the outside of your ankle may not mean anything to anyone.

So then that was that. No more thought over which version but instead of a size. I had 2 sizes picked out and printed out. At work yesterday, I cut them both out and taped one (the bigger one) to the back of my left ankle; right where Erin suggested, above my tendon & below my calf. I took a really long hard look at it. I was happy. I showed the receptionist in my department and she liked it too. It was decided! Woo!

I kept it taped to my ankle and decided that after work, I would stop by the tattoo shop and get a price quote and make an appointment. Come to find out, he was free right then & there! Asked if I need some time to psyche up for it but I didn't. I was ready!

About 10 minutes to get ready & trace the tattoo and then it was back to his studio room. He was glad that I taped the printed version out so he knew where the right placement was at. I just asked that he center it better on my leg.

He peeled off the tape & paper, rubbed my leg down with alcohol and put on his stencil. I have a freckle on my leg that I used as guideline for the toe of the shoe (you can see it in the above photo). He put his stencil a little lower than that freckle. But after seeing it in the mirror over and over and over again, I was comfortable with it being that low. It really wasn't that much lower anyway. I asked about it being more painful since it was lower on the Achilles tendon but he didn't think it should make a difference.

And away he went. He said that he was gonna tattoo a little bit so I can get a gauge and it was fine. Then he started on it. Said that if I needed a break, then we'll take a break. But I was fine throughout the whole thing; him on the otherhand, his hand kept cramping and he really didn't have a good place to rest his arm either.

The only time that it was a little painful was when he stopped cause he was done and was going over it again in a few spots to make sure he got all the spots of the tattoo since it's fully black. It's like cutting yourself and then cutting yourself in the same spot again once it's already been bleeding. He wanted to know how it was for me. I told him; I trained for 3 marathons, I have a high pain tolerance. :-)

Once it was done, I took another look at it in the mirror and it looked fabulous. I'm really loving it. I can't wait until it's fully healed; the swelling goes down & scabs fall off. Then I'll really be able to get a good look at it.

But it's a good spot. Not on my calf and when I run and have my ankle socks (which I always do), people behind me will see it. And during the summer, even when I'm NOT running, I'll have ankle socks & shorts (haha yea right) it'll be seen as well! Maybe it could have been a little bigger but I didn't want it to wrap around my ankle too much.

I have seen some people who have gotten the triathlon tattoo and I do plan on doing one next year but I'll never be crazy about them as I have been about running. But those tattoos are pretty cool looking as well.

Anyway, I think I'm now all tattooed out until my next trip to Ireland. Then I already have that one picked out as well. But I have nothing else that defines me that I need to get tattooed. Suppose I could go with a geek thing but eh, I really don't have anything but the Infinity symbol as that's my favourite math sign. Maybe but I can't really justify it and no way will I get one just to get one. We'll see, I could come up with something really cute I'm sure for a geek thing. There was a guy that came in as I was waiting that wanted his own initials on the back of his arm. I was kinda confused with that but eh, to each their own right?

Categories: tattoos