RUNNERS, FINALLY
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Hello and howdydoody. I'm Matty B, and i'll be joining you folks in
the discussion in the greatest thing since sliced bread, running. I
don't know what took me so long to start talking with the folks on
this server. Runners are the greatest people ever and to take part in
this culture of running is such an honor....too bad that i never take
part in the culture because i know maybe 2 runners.
anyhow, random question for all of you, to get the ball rolling:
Have any/most of you encountered a surprising number genuine runner haters? I have met so many
people (even my friends) who just hate me because I run and if i try to talk to get anyone to try
running or EVEN try TALKING about it, i get shot down. When i first started running, only about a
year ago, i was irritated that i had wasted 19 years of my life (mostly depressed) and was a little
pissed off at the few runners that i knew that didn't share the secret to happiness. now i'm
starting to wonder if runners are taught at an early age to keep their mouth shut about health,
because, in fact, we are a minority in this country (11% of americans are in shape, right?).
so.....i lost my train of thought....so i'll stop this rant now.
~Matty B~
don't worry about what people think about you! because they aren't thinking about you
beware there b trolls here ,,, ps - glad to have u here - hope u stay plodzilla
KingsXman wrote:
>
> Hello and howdydoody. I'm Matty B, and i'll be joining you folks in the discussion in the greatest
> thing since sliced bread, running. I don't know what took me so long to start talking with the
> folks on this server. Runners are the greatest people ever and to take part in this culture of
> running is such an honor....too bad that i never take part in the culture because i know maybe 2
> runners. anyhow, random question for all of you, to get the ball rolling:
>
> Have any/most of you encountered a surprising number genuine runner haters? I have met so many
> people (even my friends) who just hate me because I run and if i try to talk to get anyone to try
> running or EVEN try TALKING about it, i get shot down. When i first started running, only about a
> year ago, i was irritated that i had wasted 19 years of my life (mostly depressed) and was a
> little pissed off at the few runners that i knew that didn't share the secret to happiness. now
> i'm starting to wonder if runners are taught at an early age to keep their mouth shut about
> health, because, in fact, we are a minority in this country (11% of americans are in shape,
> right?).
>
> so.....i lost my train of thought....so i'll stop this rant now.
>
> ~Matty B~
ultrajohn1@webtv.net wrote in message news:<7440-40035896-150@storefull-3135.bay.webtv.net>...
> don't worry about what people think about you! because they aren't thinking about you
well that's obvious. luckily i'm also know for not caring what people think about me...yeah, not one
bit, now that i think about it. but, if i were a runner that cared about what people thought, i
might be more pissed than i am. well.....i do get a little mad when someone bad talks running to me
(I treat running as a personal friend, and if sometone speaks ill of him i'll fight back
sometimes....only if i hadn't ran that day). this is because running has changed my life more than
anything else ever (for the better). after heavy drug use and smoking at an early age, followed by
depression...etc....running changed my whole perspective on life. i just always feel like i should
preach the good word of running (also like my duty as a christian....).
so, again, anyone else face discrimination?
~Matty "i have to stop it with these sleep deprived, train of thought rants" B~
KingsXman wrote:
> Have any/most of you encountered a surprising number genuine runner haters? I have met so many
> people (even my friends) who just hate me because I run and if i try to talk to get anyone to try
> running or EVEN try TALKING about it, i get shot down.
Hate is the wrong word and it's not limited to only runners. We typically tend to look leaner,
healthier and stand out from our larger counterparts. I could come up with a bazillion adjectives
and they would all sound snobbish if not outright pejorative.
If you try to proselytize the sport with short ot long unwanted monolog, much like the J-Witness'
Saturday invasion, you will generate hate. Enjoy your new found health and only talk to those that
ask you about it and do that being nonjudgmental.
I'm assuming this is not a troll and welcome to r.r.
--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" dfreeseS@NOBShvc.rr.com
Perhaps they don't hate runners or running. Maybe they just don't want a spotty teenager telling
them how to live. Or they just might find you irritating in general.
--
Miss St. Tropez
"KingsXman" <kingsxman@msn.com> wrote in message
news:6bc8f379.0401121732.c7463a7@posting.google.com...
> Have any/most of you encountered a surprising number genuine runner
> haters? I have met so many people (even my friends) who just hate me
> because I run and if i try to talk to get anyone to try running or
> EVEN try TALKING about it, i get shot down.
They don't hate you because you jog. It's much more personal than that. Hell, I couldn't stand you 2
sentences into your post. And to answer your question...........no, everyone loves joggers.
Especially me. Now go back to Nebraska, Gretchen.
I like enthusiasm.
Running is one of the few things that has survived across the decades. It has outlasted jobs,
spouses, cities, accidents and about 87 pairs of shoes.
>Have any/most of you encountered a surprising number genuine runner haters?
It's envy, not really hate.
Many people ask me how I stay so thin and young looking @ 44 years, and I usually just say
"running." This is not the answer most people want to hear (they think it's too much work?) -- they
prefer that I would offer them a "magic bullet" (e.g., "HGH supplements," etc.).
A VERY few will follow up my answer with some inquiries about my running, and it is this latter
group for whom you might hope to "evangelize" the sport, from my experience.
>They don't hate you because you jog. It's much more personal than that. Hell,
I couldn't stand you 2 sentences into your post. And to answer your question...........no, everyone
loves joggers. Especially me. Now go back to Nebraska, Gretchen.
Miss Anne:
It would seem that the "chastity belt" your master has you wearing must be riding up and causing you
some discomfort. Kindly have her adjust it the next time you play "doubles" with her, or at least
before you post again.
kingsxman@msn.com (KingsXman) wrote in message news:<6bc8f379.0401121732.c7463a7@posting.google.com>...
> Hello and howdydoody. I'm Matty B, and i'll be joining you folks in the discussion in the greatest
> thing since sliced bread, running. I don't know what took me so long to start talking with the
> folks on this server. Runners are the greatest people ever and to take part in this culture of
> running is such an honor....too bad that i never take part in the culture because i know maybe 2
> runners. anyhow, random question for all of you, to get the ball rolling:
>
> Have any/most of you encountered a surprising number genuine runner haters? I have met so many
> people (even my friends) who just hate me because I run and if i try to talk to get anyone to try
> running or EVEN try TALKING about it, i get shot down. When i first started running, only about a
> year ago, i was irritated that i had wasted 19 years of my life (mostly depressed) and was a
> little pissed off at the few runners that i knew that didn't share the secret to happiness. now
> i'm starting to wonder if runners are taught at an early age to keep their mouth shut about
> health, because, in fact, we are a minority in this country (11% of americans are in shape,
> right?).
>
> so.....i lost my train of thought....so i'll stop this rant now.
>
> ~Matty B~
now, looking back.....HOLY ****. boy, did i sound arrogant! i had no idea. I'm really not like that
at all. I don't know what i was thinking. sorry about that, maybe i should start proofreading my
posts. I forgot that none of you actually know me. hahaha! so i'm going to pretend that i didn't say
any of that. thank you for your time.
~Matty B~
"Maybe they just don't want a spotty teenager telling them how to live. Or they just might find you
irritating in general."
--
"Hell, I couldn't stand you 2 sentences into your post."
I thought runners were supposed to be friendly. I guess there is no
hope for humans.
~Matty B~
by the way, with the "telling them how to live" remark: I was talking
mainly about my closer friends and some other peers who were actually
a bit YOUNGER than myself. I was just thinking that maybe they
resented me a little at times because they believed that i thought i
was better than them because i run. but you folks just reminded me
that it's not just non-runners who can be assholes. thank you for the
reality check!
High_Colonic@webtv.net (Miss Anne Thrope) wrote in message news:<7538-4003FCDD-130@storefull-3155.bay.webtv.net>...
> They don't hate you because you jog. It's much more personal than that. Hell, I couldn't stand you
> 2 sentences into your post. And to answer your question...........no, everyone loves joggers.
> Especially me. Now go back to Nebraska, Gretchen.
haha, i forgot to mention that i'm a sarcastic bastard myself, so i'll cut you all some slack.
P.S. Best album ever
On 13 Jan 2004 15:44:32 -0800, kingsxman@msn.com (KingsXman) wrote:
>kingsxman@msn.com (KingsXman) wrote in message
>news:<6bc8f379.0401121732.c7463a7@posting.google.com>...
>> Hello and howdydoody. I'm ...
>... posts. I forgot that none of you actually know me. hahaha! so i'm going to pretend that i
>didn't say any of that. thank you for your time.
oh. don't worry about it. i didn't read it anyway. once i got past the first few words i realized
you were just letting off steam. i'll read what you write when you get around to discussing running.
i'm just a beginner working out with lots of beginners so your observations and questions are quite
appropriate to my little group. ...thehick
Matty B,
I think you'll find this group divides into 3 segments.
1. There are the trolls. Just add them to your kill file. If you don't read or respond to their
posts, you'll be much better off. They thrive on the response. If nobody responds it's like
talking to a wall to them.
2. The snob elite's that think their **** is too pretty to give a lowly mortal the time of day.
3. The rest of the runners that are generally helpful and sincere
Not all runners are assholes, but this group seems to attract it's share of them.
M.T.
On 13 Jan 2004 15:35:00 -0800, kingsxman@msn.com (KingsXman) wrote:
>"Maybe they just don't want a spotty teenager telling them how to live. Or they just might find you
>irritating in general."
>
>--
>"Hell, I couldn't stand you 2 sentences into your post."
>
>I thought runners were supposed to be friendly. I guess there is no hope for humans. ~Matty B~
>
>by the way, with the "telling them how to live" remark: I was talking mainly about my closer
>friends and some other peers who were actually a bit YOUNGER than myself. I was just thinking that
>maybe they resented me a little at times because they believed that i thought i was better than
>them because i run. but you folks just reminded me that it's not just non-runners who can be
>assholes. thank you for the reality check!
kingsxman@msn.com (KingsXman) wrote in message news:<6bc8f379.0401121732.c7463a7@posting.google.com>...
> Have any/most of you encountered a surprising number genuine runner haters? I have met so many
> people (even my friends) who just hate me because I run and if i try to talk to get anyone to try
> running or EVEN try TALKING about it, i get shot down.
These people are not runner-haters. They are haters of boring people who have no social skills!
If you want to talk about nothing but running, then you have to find people who are interested:
either people who run, or who are otherwise very keen on getting into it. In the case of the latter,
it helps if you are knowledgeable, so you can tell them just a small amount of the right information
they need to get started or to solve some problem; they probably don't want to hear about your
latest and greatest personal record on some favorite course. ;)
As a rule, if you want people to be interested in talking, you have to talk about *them* and *their*
interests.
> When i first started running, only about a year ago, i was irritated that i had wasted 19 years of
> my life (mostly depressed) and was a little pissed off at the few runners that i knew that didn't
> share the secret to happiness.
One little problem is if you depend on running for happiness, you will have a miserable time when
you have to overcome injuries that take you out of the running circuit entirely for weeks at a time,
or seriously reduce your mileage.
> now i'm starting to wonder if runners are taught at an early age to keep their mouth shut about
> health, because, in fact, we are a minority in this country (11% of americans are in shape,
> right?).
Non-runners can already see the tangible benefits of running without *you* telling them anything.
You're not the first runner they have ever seen. People already know that sports make people fit,
and that serious athletes have great bodies and all that.
On the other hand, it's next to impossible to explain the intangible benefits to nonrunners. They
just see it as an excruciatingly painful activity that they can't stand for more than a few minutes,
so that people who *can* do it must be naturally different in some way. They are physically built
differently, or are just crazy or are jocks that were just born possessing ``the right stuff''.
There is no point in trying to convince people that they can do it. This has to come from within.
You can inspire people when they see you go from a fat couch potato to accomplished runner. That's
what helps motivate people: when they see someone familiar go through a transformation from ``one of
us'' to ``one of them''.
If some non-runner you have only met recently only knows you as ``one of them'', there is no point
in talking to them about running. You are disconnected. I could carry an old picture of me to show
people, but they probably won't believe that's me. Not long ago, a woman at work actually re-
introduced herself to me in the lunch room, thinking I was new here! We both have been working here
for well over a year, and have exchanged a few words here and there. That was a strange moment, but
I just went along with it.
If you want to evangelize running to non-runners, you have to become very knowledgeable, and
organize your knowledge into a structure that you can reveal to newbies without overwhelming them---
or worse, scaring them. In particular, you have to have ready-made, factual answers to all the
common objections and misconceptions. As example of someone who is good at evangelizing running to
ordinary people, consider John ``The Penguin'' Bingham. Unfi people identify with Bingham, because
he was one of them, and he still sucks! In his enthusiasm, he emphasizes nothing but the intangible
benefits of running: sense of achievent, well-being and so on, as opposed to years of gut-busting
training in search of a sub-40-minute 10K.
Not every runner has the confidence and knowledge to lecture about it, so that is one reason for the
apparent ``code of silence''. Some people run, and even get good at it, without having much of a
clue. They might not be able to tell a motion control shoe from a stability one, and give you a
blank stare if you mention lactate threshold or VO2Max. So of course they aren't going to talk to
you; they don't want to look stupid when after all that time they have been running, they can't
confidently help you pick shoes or give you useful training hints.
kingsxman@msn.com (KingsXman) wrote in message news:<6bc8f379.0401121732.c7463a7@posting.google.com>...
> Hello and howdydoody. I'm Matty B, and i'll be joining you folks in the discussion in the greatest
> thing since sliced bread, running. I don't know what took me so long to start talking with the
> folks on this server. Runners are the greatest people ever
I fuked your momma, twice. Then bitchslapped her.
<Malcolm_Tempt@The World.net> wrote in message
news:vpna00l07i4olgqr833ahnpeai5r1nojo4@4ax.com...
> Matty B,
>
> I think you'll find this group divides into 3 segments.
>
> 1. There are the trolls. Just add them to your kill file. If you don't
read or respond to their posts, you'll be much
> better off. They thrive on the response. If nobody responds it's like
talking to a wall to them.
>
> 2. The snob elite's that think their **** is too pretty to give a
lowly mortal the time of day.
Yea, this group does have its trolls but the snobs seemed to have left a couple of years ago. I
can't really think of any snobs in the group. A couple of crazy old ultra runners maybe, and an
Alaskan that runs in crazy weather, and a really crazy guy that runs through the airport in San
Diego maybe, but no snobs.
>
> 3. The rest of the runners that are generally helpful and sincere
>
> Not all runners are assholes, but this group seems to attract it's
share of them.
>
> M.T.
> As a rule, if you want people to be interested in talking, you have to talk about *them* and
> *their* interests.
>
That's why i showed them that nice article on the natural THC. My friends love getting drunk and
stoned, so i've been trying to get them to try getting high off their own juices.
> One little problem is if you depend on running for happiness, you will have a miserable time when
> you have to overcome injuries that take you out of the running circuit entirely for weeks at a
> time, or seriously reduce your mileage.
>
Tell me about it. I skipped 4 days in a row a few months ago. worst 4 days of my life.
> Non-runners can already see the tangible benefits of running without *you* telling them anything.
> You're not the first runner they have ever seen. People already know that sports make people fit,
> and that serious athletes have great bodies and all that.
>
The thing is, i have been trying to convert my friends who are very deep in their shell. the fact of
the matter is that i would not be at all surprised if i was the first runner they have
seen........on a side note, pretty much the only time i go on and on about running to them is after
i have ran and am high on....life (or my "natural juices" as i like to call it). However, if i don't
run, i tend to go on and on about how much it sucks that i haven't ran. so, pretty much, they hear
me go on and on about ruuning either way. Before i ran, i just always talked about how depressed i
was during the winter (SAD sucks).
> On the other hand, it's next to impossible to explain the intangible benefits to nonrunners. They
> just see it as an excruciatingly painful activity that they can't stand for more than a few
> minutes, so that people who *can* do it must be naturally different in some way. They are
> physically built differently, or are just crazy or are jocks that were just born possessing ``the
> right stuff''. There is no point in trying to convince people that they can do it. This has to
> come from within.
>
> You can inspire people when they see you go from a fat couch potato to accomplished runner. That's
> what helps motivate people: when they see someone familiar go through a transformation from ``one
> of us'' to ``one of them''.
>
\
......damn hippies!
overall, i keep my mouth shut about running to people other than my close friends. this is because
they are the people who saw me go to a lazy, drug addicted, depressed teen into a motivated, happy
and successful slightly older, productive member of society. as i see my close friends start to fall
into a familiar downward spiral, i feel it is my duty (as one of the enlightened) to share my
discovery. this would be why i always talk about it (that and i like to explain why i'm feeling so
damn good so people don't thinki i'm stoned.) after all, it sucks that no one shared running with
me, i don't want to leave them in the cold either.
Ya know, you don't seem so bad after all. KUTGW.
--
Miss St. Tropez
"KingsXman" <kingsxman@msn.com> wrote in message
news:6bc8f379.0401142155.60dd7b96@posting.google.com...
> overall, i keep my mouth shut about running to people other than my
> close friends. this is because they are the people who saw me go to a
> lazy, drug addicted, depressed teen into a motivated, happy and
> successful slightly older, productive member of society. as i see my
> close friends start to fall into a familiar downward spiral, i feel it
> is my duty (as one of the enlightened) to share my discovery. this
> would be why i always talk about it (that and i like to explain why
> i'm feeling so damn good so people don't thinki i'm stoned.) after
> all, it sucks that no one shared running with me, i don't want to
> leave them in the cold either.
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