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Talking about running (Read 1089 times)


sugnim

    Do you talk about running with non-runners?  I've heard some people do not like to talk about running with non-runners and make it a point to never bring the subject up.  Some runners post their times & run details on facebook & other social media sites where they interact with non-runners.

     

    There is an article in today's NYTimes which suggests "all the running talk by devotees who may not realize how annoying and boring their monologues can be.  [. . .]  So it might behoove runners to keep their running talk and braggadocio to their running friends. There may be something more than health concerns behind those cracks from friends and family about failing knees and backs and heart attacks among runners."

     

     

    I can see how hearing runners talk about running could be boring to some people.  But, if you are friends with someone who runs, chances are they will talk about it because most people talk about what they enjoy.  

     

    I see a lot of online posts by people who constantly talk about insomnia, how much they hate their job, or how much they drank at the last party they attended.  To me, that is incredibly boring.  I would much rather hear about someone running or doing some other positive activity that they enjoy than hear about how awful someone's life is.  

     

    What is your opinion on this?

      Do you talk about running with non-runners?  I've heard some people do not like to talk about running with non-runners and make it a point to never bring the subject up.  Some runners post their times & run details on facebook & other social media sites where they interact with non-runners.

       

      There is an article in today's NYTimes which suggests "all the running talk by devotees who may not realize how annoying and boring their monologues can be.  [. . .]  So it might behoove runners to keep their running talk and braggadocio to their running friends. There may be something more than health concerns behind those cracks from friends and family about failing knees and backs and heart attacks among runners."

       

       

      I can see how hearing runners talk about running could be boring to some people.  But, if you are friends with someone who runs, chances are they will talk about it because most people talk about what they enjoy.  

       

      I see a lot of online posts by people who constantly talk about insomnia, how much they hate their job, or how much they drank at the last party they attended.  To me, that is incredibly boring.  I would much rather hear about someone running or doing some other positive activity that they enjoy than hear about how awful someone's life is.  

       

      What is your opinion on this?

      Believe it or not, with all the looooong monologue I post here, I hardly ever talk about running unless asked.  If you run into me at a Christmas party or a New Year party, you wouldn't even know I'm involved with running at all (especially since my wife wouldn't allow me to wear all my ASICS stuff to those parties) and I wouldn't think anything of it.

       

      I was just going to send an e-mail to Joan Benoit with this recipe for vegetarian Indian dish because she likes new and exciting recipes.  I talk to Bill Rodgers all the time via e-mail but not much about running.  In the later years, I used to call up Arthur Lydiard but hardly talked anything about running/training.  I think, in a way, they appreciated it.

       

      By the way, sugnim, a great photo of you (I assume it's you) running in the snow!!.


      an amazing likeness

        There's a reason why they've got us all squeezed into some isolated corner of the internet....

        Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.


        #artbydmcbride

          There's a reason why they've got us all squeezed into some isolated corner of the internet....

           I know, right?!  Big grin

           

          At least it gives colleagues at work something to say to me when they are otherwise at a loss....."so when is your next race?"  always works.

          But I have seen a lot of glazed over eyes if I go into any real detail.... 

           

          Runners run

          northernman


          Fight The Future

            Sorry, but had to repost this link:

            http://www.theonion.com/articles/im-truly-sorry-for-this-but-youre-about-to-hear-al,28995/


            sugnim

              Sorry, but had to repost this link:

              http://www.theonion.com/articles/im-truly-sorry-for-this-but-youre-about-to-hear-al,28995/

               

              That's pretty funny.

                 

                 

                  When my neighbors used to ask about my running (just something to talk about), they asked if I ran marathons. I told them no, and that blissfully ended the conversation. I didn't tell them that I ran longer stuff on trails. Wink  But I did have to listen to their 50+ yr old son describe his xc days in hs. I used to have to go by their house to go anywhere, so it was hard to hide my running from them. (they don't live there anymore)

                   

                  At work, most people I was around either ran to some degree themselves or were active in some way or their kids were competitive in some individual sport. Another guy had done one of the most famous races up here, but more usually was an EMT on the race (at the bottom of the cliff).

                  "So many people get stuck in the routine of life that their dreams waste away. This is about living the dream." - Cave Dog
                  Turbolegs


                    I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.

                      Do you talk about running with non-runners?

                       

                      Sure. And got the watch to keep track.

                        Honestly,that Onion article is pretty much how I feel about peoples "Race Reports".

                        A paragraph or two,and maybe a pic or two,then STOP!

                        The mile by mile reports along with pics of the hotel bathroom -I pretty much skip over everything. All I read is the final time.

                        Julia1971


                          Well, at least she didn't call us joggers.

                           

                          I would fix this clause, though:

                           

                          "[...] if you find yourself resenting an athlete who fancies himself superior, odds are that athlete will be a runner tri-athlete."

                           

                          Seriously, though, other than professional conferences I've attended, I'm not sure I've ever found someone so boring that I'd go through the trouble of writing a journal article to sabotage them.  The New York Times article reads like snark, so I'm not sure it's meant to be taken seriously.

                           

                          Edited because there are two articles discussed in the thread.

                          tom1961


                          Old , Ugly and slow

                            I don't talk to anyone i know about running that is why I come here.

                            first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007

                             

                            2019  goals   1000  miles  , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes

                            FSBD


                              Being in my early 30s pretty much all of my friends have kids between newborn and 5 years old.  

                              Talking about running is my way of getting even with them for forcing me to listen to stories of breast feeding and potty training.  

                               

                               

                              But seriously, we talk about what we know.  I work, I commute, I run.  They work, commute and wipe asses.  

                              I tend to go into much less detail than they do.  I may tell them my latest race time (whether they want to know or not) or total mileage for the current week, (only if they ask) but I don't go into excruciating detail about paces and training programs or mile by mile recaps.  

                              I have one friend who is also a marathoner so I bug her a lot with questions and asking for advice but that is about it.  

                              We are the music makers,

                                  And we are the dreamers of dreams,

                              Wandering by lone sea-breakers,

                                  And sitting by desolate streams; 

                              World-losers and world-forsakers,

                                  On whom the pale moon gleams:

                              Yet we are the movers and shakers

                                  Of the world for ever, it seems.


                              sugnim

                                But seriously, we talk about what we know.  I work, I commute, I run.  They work, commute and wipe asses.   

                                 

                                Good personal hygiene is recommended for everyone, especially if you have the runs.  Clown

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