Shirt or no shirt?

Summer is not my favorite time of year for running. Sure, it's nice not to have to bundle up, but the heat is not friendly to my body. Compared to the average runner, I sweat a lot. Aside from the obvious dehydration problem, this also causes blisters and chafing. I have been on many runs where my shoes are soaked after only 3 or 4 miles into it. Not just wet, completely soaked. I could hear a constant squish-squish-squish as I ran along.

None of my clothing stays dry, so for the past few months I've been running shirtless. In late July I was out in Davenport, Iowa to run the Quad City Times Bix 7 road race. I opted to wear a shirt so I wouldn't have to pin my number to my shorts. I ended up with chafed nipples, a problem I've experienced before that is not uncommon to runners. That was the last time I ran while wearing a shirt, until yesterday. It was relatively cool (if 75 F can be considered cool) and I only planned to run 4.5 miles, so I figured I'd try wearing a shirt. It was not bad. There were even spots on my shirt that remained dry. However, I am keeping in mind that the run was only 4.5 miles. A longer run could be less pleasant.

So my dilemma continues -- do I wear a shirt or not? I figure I only have a couple of weeks left with this problem since the temperature will be dropping soon. I can't wait.