So Chris with another of his thought provoking posts (are any of them NOT?) got me thinking about some interesting new ideas plus reminded me of a bit of deep reading I did a year or so ago. Check out the online version of The Cluetrain Manifesto (the whole book!) or, if you’ve got money to burn, pick yourself up a hard copy version at amazon. It’s pretty interesting reading.
Take a look at this terrific little satire and then look lower. I have a couple of questions for ya…
First question is for the fellas: What’s your FIRST emotional response to this? How do you handle women passing you? Is there even a small bit of you that thinks a “chick” should not be passing you?
Second question is for the ladies: What’s YOUR first emotional response? Is it “YEAH! She’s kicking a MAN’S ass! Or is it just a warm happy feeling for that speedy running chick? Another way to ask this; How do you feel when you pass a man compared to when you pass another woman?
I’m just wondering where we all are with the whole gender-war concept within the context of running. Are we still at war or are we over ourselves?
Thoughts?
My two bits: I must admit it used to bother me when ladies passed me but I think running has really taught me that women can be every bit as tough as fellas. It is truly a level playing field. I’ve especially learned this lesson from my very good friend Corinne (you’ve probably seen me refer to her as “sis”). Corinne is tough as nails. In fact, I think I’d have a very hard time finding someone tougher – male or female.
Then again, it may just be that I’ve been passed so many times by women that I’ve just gotten used to it! 
I promised to show you my Superman ring and explain the symbolism it’s had for me. I tried to take a pic of my ring, but our digital camera just doesn’t get close enough so I resorted to plan “b” and found a ring on the net that looks pretty darn close – although I think mine is nicer looking.
If you are interested in purchasing such a ring, it can be found here.
I bought my ring about 10 or so years ago while wandering around Edmonton’s Whyte Avenue district. I am not much of a shopper but I clearly remember walking into this shop that carried mostly holistic, metaphysical type stuff (books on spiritualism, lots of incense etc etc).
The ring was among a bunch of other, more spiritual looking rings. Among a little section of Superman and Batman stuff, this ring that was to be my own just seemed to call out to me. It almost BEGGED to be bought. I rarely have that kind of pull toward an object so, I went with it.
I wore that ring for a few years – mostly because it was fun and I thought it looked cool. It also never failed to get comments from family, friends and strangers.
Then, I got married and the ring got put away.
Not long after, I learned that my then wife was not being faithful. I won’t go into a long drawn-out story, but let’s just say a lot of water went under the bridge and the relationship ended. It was during the break-up when I re-discovered the ring. I came across it while cleaning ghosts out of a closet.
Once again, the ring called out to me but this time which much greater purpose. As soon as I saw it, I was reminded of the reasons I loved Superman. The little boy inside me loved his heriocs, but the grown-up part of me admired his unwavering values – the things he stood for. When I thought of “Supe”, I thought of justice, honor, loyalty and most importantly (for me), his unshakable honesty and strength of character.
So, when I saw that ring and thought about the ordeal I was going through, I immediately thought, “Be like Superman. Rise above the crap. Be a person of honor. Be a person of STRENGTH.”
I wore that ring for a year. It helped me get through all the crap and through my first marathon…
…but that’s another story.
I once read (wish I could quote the source) a study which had the following finding: The most important quality for being “successful” (please define!) in life is a sense of optimism.
So, I wanna ask ya something. Generally speaking, would you classify yourself as an optimist or a pessimist?
In order to answer the question, I think you have to listen to the internal chatter that takes place in your mind as you go about your day, take part in activities, do tasks and interact with people.
What is the tone of that internal voice? For example, when you are running are you more likely to hear I Think I Can, I Think I Can, I KNOW I Can, I KNOW I Can or…something less than that?
I truly believe in the findings of that study and, although I can’t claim to be optimistic 100% of the time, I do strive to be that way most of the time.
How about you? Are you as optimistic as you’d like to be? Do you think your level of optimism affects how successful your running is, and in your life generally?
Just wondering. 
