The first time I went jog-ging in Tehran, I nearly hyperventilated after four blocks, despite wearing the gauziest of headscarves and a decidedly immodest pair of Nike Capri pants. The fabric covering my ears and neck stoked my body temperature unbearably, and the pleasurable strain of running gave way to acute discomfort. "How am I going to stay fit here?" I wailed to my Iranian girlfriends, experts in the dilemma of balancing exercise with Islamic modesty codes. They offered me plenty of advice, from wearing head-scarves with ear slits to calibrating outdoor exercise to the seasons to finding women-only gyms.
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