This TikTok Runner Went Viral For Finding Shorts That Don’t Ride Up

This article was first published in June 2023.

Part of TikTok's compulsively watchable appeal is the FYP's ability to show you new things that also feel like exactly what you were looking for — you just didn't know it yet. Like when I stumbled on a viral video from a runner who had found the impossible: running shorts that don't ride up. When Erin Azar — also known as Mrs. Space Cadet, the "professional struggle runner" — appeared on my TikTok feed, I felt like the algo hit hard. As a person who is often unmotivated to finish any sort of creative or personal task, the literal push I was seeing from Azar and her runs really got me emotional and inspired (Azar is also hilarious, so there's lots of giggling, too). She also often reviews running gear, including the elusive shorts that won't ride up.

Off-screen, Azar is a mom living in Pennsylvania, who started running as a way to stay active and improve her overall well-being. Her training sessions are everything you actually imagine runs to be: sweaty, unglamorous, gnarly, the whole ordeal. (But, not to worry, there are moments of pure joy peppered throughout her journey, too.)

"I was feeling mentally and physically unhealthy after having my third baby," Azar writes in an email to Refinery29. "I ran a mile out of desperation because I needed fresh air and movement. It helped my anxiety and exhaustion a bit so I kept going." And go she did — eventually, Azar signed up for a marathon as a way to keep herself on track with her exercise routine. "I’m someone who quits everything I start, so signing up for a marathon was a way to force me to keep running even on days when I didn’t want to," she explains. Azar has since completed her third marathon in Chicago and declares there's "no going back."

As you can imagine, Azar has been testing and wearing a ton of activewear — and the post that had me gripped was her search for flowy shorts that don't ride up. (Relatable.) The post has low-key gone viral, with 1.3 million views to date, probably because it's nearly impossible to find shorts that truly don't, as Azar would say, "get gobbled by your thighs."

Interestingly enough, Azar tells me she only wears bike shorts when she's marathon training because she can't have things flopping around in her pockets (bike shorts keep things contoured to her legs). But, for any other physical activity like walking, running errands, strength workouts, yoga, or going to the beach, she prefers flowy shorts so that her legs can breathe.

"I almost always wear a size large but women’s sizing is so unhinged, so a Lululemon size 10 for me translates to a large in some brands but XL in others, especially the 'knockoff' products," Azar says of how she goes about what pant sizes she wears and tests, noting that she has an "enormous rant" stored up about the problems with women's sizing. Since that can make it hard to give recommendations to viewers, her workaround is to "generally just show my body, share what size I wear, and hope that provides enough value and info for my followers to make informed decisions about what size might work for them." Ahead, watch Azar's TikTok video and shop the three flowy shorts she has tested (complete with brisk walks, squats, and high kicks) that remain, for the most part, unsucked into the vortex of the inner thighs.