Reality Check: I'm REALLY bad! (Page 2)

Gwendal - 2005-04-28 2:09 PM Holy mackeral, people, you are WONDERFUL! I came back and read this thread and promptly raced over to the online registration for the Danskin and signed up. I've been a bit down lately about my athletic abilities. A guy I know got into a conversation with me about how I wasn't really an athlete because I'm not very good at anything. I was a bit puzzled by this because it seems to me that people who show up and train week after week, month after month, year after year and then show up and compete actually ARE athletes. When they spend all their online time on athletic-related websites, when they physically shudder at the thought of eating chili-cheese-fries (ewwww!) when they spend all their disposable income at the LBS... doesn't that make me an athlete? It *seems* to me that would be enough. But this conversation really undermined my confidence, and then to have my lack of prowess at all three sports so deftly illustrated, well, I got shaken. Thanks for picking me up and setting me back on the right path. And the rain quit so maybe it's time to take my Lab (Ela) out for a muddy run. :-) Gwendal

Tania - 2005-04-28 2:57 PM

You signed up?? You really did it? Man, WE ROCK and so do YOU! And while we are still (hopefully) still able to have such an influence on you, may we suggest you dump that life-sucking ass*@%e from your atmosphere as soon as possible? Good deal, you signed UP! Let us know how your training is progressing, and how your race goes.

Gwendal - 2005-04-28 10:36 PM



Yup, this afternoon. Then I took my dog out for a run in the muck. This place really inspires me.

As for your advice regarding the life-sucking jerk, I agree totally. I had been active in another online community (more focused on weightlifting) and I just realized one day (in January) that the place had a sucky attitude and I didn't want to hang with them anymore. That's the day I landed here. I've rarely been back there (despite having hung out there for many years) and mostly it's EXACTLY because of the life-sucking toxic atmosphere.

BTW, the guy who was so weird about the term "athlete" thought it was a term reserved only for world-class athletes. Mark Allen is a triathlete. I'm just a fat middle-aged housewife in his opinion. (None of that is true, by the way: but he met me when I was obese years ago. It's also a stretch to call me a "housewife" since I run my own CPA firm.... it just happens to be in my house. Middle-aged... maybe, but I'm younger now in many ways than when I was fat.)

It seems to me that the term "athlete" is most useful with qualifiers, but an awful lot of people fall into the overall category by virtue of having similar interests and lifestyles. Whether you're a 'special olympics athlete' or a 'week-end athlete' or a "triathlete' you make your sport a priority, make sacrifices for it, it influences the rest of your lifestyle, and you show up and sweat. Who cares if you get famous doing it? (Well, Lance cares but he's unusual.) Anyway, that was my argument. His argument was that I was too pitiful to be anything other than a poser. Toxic thinking.

Gwendal

royj - 2005-04-28 11:27 PM

I am at a race cheering on a friend this guy is standing beside me, as people are going by he looks over and says why are YOU not out there and then laughed.

us50090 - 2005-04-29 12:03 AM

You asked for a reality check....You seem to suffer from low self esteem. People here have held a mirror in front of you: read these posts again: that is what you appear like to them based on what you wrote. You need to try and see yourself the way others see you. Being down on yourself is not good for your mental health. There are a lot of people here that would happily trade with your parameters, times etc. there are folks that have much, much harder strugles in this sport than what you portray.

sharonnagy5 - 2005-04-29 11:50 AM



I think it's easy to say to someone without walking a mile in his/her shoes..."you seem to suffer from low self esteem." It's possible that someone looking for reassurance might be suffering from something along those lines, but I just think that we all suffer from insecurities from time to time It's part of being human. I just thought that post was a bit...I dunno....judgemental.

ps: But, when your insecurities are manifested by the person(s) you hang with, then I think you need to get away from negative people who make you feel inept. Life's too short to associate with jerks who put you down. That's no fun.

Sharon

us50090 - 2005-04-29 1:25 PM

All of these posts are judgmental, we are all passing judgement on what we're reading. The poster asked for a reality check.....it came in many flavors...I read a bit of unjust self pity in that post....there were enough cheerleading posts here already, more power to them....I just chose another angle...maybe the shoe doesn't fit, maybe it does... As the old saying goes...."I was all upset about breaking my leg until I saw a man with no legs"

Miko - 2005-05-01 10:29 PM

Say, how do you like that TI DVD? I'm thinking about ordering it, as the book just made my head spin (although to be honest, I did reduce my SPL by 2 the first time out after reading it).

Congrats on the "wipe out". Isn't it funny how different it is to wipe out as an adult than it was as a kid? I can remember some *Spectacular* wipe-outs from my childhood years -- I mean, girl-over-bike-over-girl downhill, spinning on the side wipe outs. Back then you'd hop right up, maybe get a Band-Aid if you were close enough to home.

As an adult -- oooof. You wipe out and just lie there for a minute, afraid to move...wondering what just happened and whether you have survived...world of difference!