Crap talkers

No matter what you do in life, people will talk crap about you. Although hearing words of negativity can slice you like a knife, the way you respond to those people is critical. Because at the end of the day those negative words people say about you is truly not about you, but about them.

I can remember that moment when I was riding the car for the homecoming parade and I could clearly hear the other team's football player mention out loud.. "Why is she a homecoming princess? She's ugly..." Or I could also remember the time when I lost a good amount of weight my senior year and my family casually questioned over Christmas if I as anorexic or not.. I remember the tears welling up my eyes a a I tried to blink them away.. No matter what I did, I was bound to have someone say something negative about me. The thing about me is that I'm a people pleaser and maybe to me those negative words people said about me affected me more than anyone else. However as time passed and I grew older, I realized more and more that the things people said about me really had nothing to do with me.

Once I started running, I think I truly found myself. I learned to challenge myself and push myself to limits I never thought I could reach. Every time I beat a time I felt like I had accomplished some small victory and I set new goals. Running wasn't just about beating times but gave me opportunities to think things over. I can remember in high school when I would just let my mind drift as I ran miles and miles. I still do that today..

As much as I have accomplished, I truly think my greatest joy comes in those races where I'm cheering others on. One of my top races has to be when I walked/jogged the Disney princess half marathon with my friends N and K. It was K's first half marathon and she worked hard. She ended up finishing the race and challenged herself more than she has ever physically challenged herself. To this day she chokes up when she talks about it.

However, during the Disney princess race we encountered a woman who pushed us out of the way as she jogged by saying under her breath that we were too slow and needed to get out of her way. Honestly, it took self-restraint to not push this woman back and tell her that she wasn't going to win the race or that I could smoke her ass in this race if I retried. Even though my thoughts were childish, I couldn't believe that she would say something like that. How do you think that comment would make someone feel? However, at the end of the day I knew that if I said those comments I was thinks about in my head, I would be no better than she was.

So what? Why this blog entry?? Well I came across this article:http://www.womensrunningcommunity.com/running-with-bullies/ and felt like I had to write something about it. As I read this woman's blog entry I grew more and more upset. I was appalled at the way other people made her feel. And for what?? This woman is out there trying to accomplish something for herself.. Pushing herself to new limits and accomplishing small victories just like me.. Yet some runners out there have take a comment and put her down, for what? To make themselves feel better? Well congratulations for being a jerk... 

So what can we do as a running community? I guess the only answer is really to cheer others on. Say words of encouragement during a race, after a race, or whenever you see someone working hard during a training run. It's incredible how simple words of encouragement can make people pick up the pace or even finish a race. So I encourage everyone out there to cheer for someone the next opportunity you have.. Because I promise you.. The person on the receiving end of the cheer might just need it at that moment in time :)