PR Question (Read 1491 times)

You dare "shun" me?

I'll stop goofing around in here, and go goof somewheres else.

You dare "shun" me?

OK, how about the races you run where you blow away some long-standing, but shorter, PR. Do you count the new PR you ran that was part of the longer race, or leave the old one? Example, for those confused. YOu run a 1/2 marathon in 1:40 (all out effort). Two-three months later, you run a marathon in 2:59, with the first half in 1:30 and the 2nd half in 1:29. Do you now count the 1;29 as your new 1/2 marathon PR? Or is the 1:40 still your PR, since that was the best you did in a 1/2 marathon race? And, if you count the new 1:29 as your PR, how do you enter it on RA without screwing up your mileage totals?

Christ, Spaniel, are you one of those guys who just has to have the last word or what? I've made my peace here with those who I felt had valid points and was happy to let it end. But hey, if you want to keep rolling that's fine. Where do I begin? High school gym teacher, middle school janitor, marketing mope... all the same. They are jobs. I don't think it's at all fair to say that middle school janitors and high school gym teachers have an IQ of 60. I went to school with a guy who had an IQ over 150 who dropped out to become a truck driver because it made him happy. They were just jobs that popped into my head as I was typing. The point, which if you are as smart as you claim you have deliberately over-looked, is that you are not a trained clinical psychologist. Therefore you are not qualified to offer psychological assessments now are you? I don't care what you do or what your degrees are, if you think you can form an opinion of someone's personality based on four anonymous internet posts you are delusional. Seriously, folks... I asked a question. I asked if you considered non-races as PRs. How in the hell does that spiral into this crap? I had a friend who was a yoga instructor that always used to say "If you're going to get angry and scream when you burn the toast, what will you do when you burn the house?". We disagree. So what? I haven't passed judgment on you. What gives you the right to pass judgment on me? I've basically dismissed all of the taunts of not being competitive, being a coward, etc because they are just so utterly ignorant and baseless that I didn't see the merit of responding. I can't imagine saying those things about someone simply because they choose not to race. I haven't bothered to justify myself at all but if that's what it takes to shut you up then fine. Let's see.... Banned from a certain mid-western city's rec softball leagues for "a style of play that was so competitive it resulted in a brawl that caused police to be summoned". Kicked out of cub scouts as a kid for taking a paddle boat race a bit too seriously. Completely blew out a bicep competing with a guy in a gym who I knew was not only much stronger but also fully geared up. Actually lost a job at a Fortune 500 company after it was determined that my need to win overshadowed my need to respect the corporate hierarchy. American Legion Baseball... filling in for a team that needed an extra catcher during a tournament double header. It was like 90 degrees and I caught the first game up to the last inning. Long story short, play at the plate, got spiked in the forehead. Blood. Swelling. The guy who was supposed to catch the second game wound up getting sick from the heat while playing the outfield in the first game so I stuck around and caught the second game too, icing my forehead between innings because if I didn't my forehead would swell to the point that the mask wouldn't fit right. More time than I can count "stepping outside" with some idiot who was 6 inches taller and 30lbs heavier than me because he had decided that I was just big enough that it would impress his buddies if he could kick my ass. Kicked out of an all you can eat KFC buffet after a co-worker and I had polished off over 20 plates of chicken and mashed potatoes because he challenged me to an eating contest. Do any of those make me competitive? Not really, no. More than anything they indicate a lack of judgment and probably a few anger management issues. But I'll tell you what does make me competitive. I work for myself. I worked for other people for a long time and then I decided that even though the odds were against me I wanted to do what I do for myself. I wake up every day and I compete with big companies and other guys like me. I work 7 days a week. I once went over 2 years without taking a day off. Why? Because there is always a better idea. There is always someone smarter, younger, and cheaper. So I compete. I walked away from the security of paid health insurance, severance packages, unemployment insurance, etc. I compete where I eat. Do you? Is there a spaniel marketing company out there? Because if there isn't then why not? Eh, there's a million reasons why not. But the reality is that if you can't find the sack to strike out on your own and compete with the big companies then really, you saying that I am not competitive because I didn't enter Aunt Margaret's Annual 10k and Bake Sale is a joke. I know I shouldn't take this stuff so personally, but I've paid a decent price in my life for being too competitive. I've lost jobs, relationships, friendships, you name it. I really could care less about your myopic view of what makes someone competitive or courageous. It's just insulting that you would make that assessment without knowing one thing about the path I've walked. I think about my best friend and former training partner who is a lifelong runner. He was one of the first Americans into Kuwait during the first Gulf War and is currently on his third tour doing covert ops in Baghdad. He is one of those most competitive and courageous people I have ever met and I am truly proud to call him a friend. But this man, this lifelong runner, like me has never entered a race. He competes every day for the most basic thing... to see the next sunrise. Yet, by the definition put forth by a few of you guys he is a non-competitive coward. You have no idea how astonishingly ignorant and myopic you seem when you say things like that.

I know I shouldn't take this stuff so personally, .

I love the smell of hyperbole in the morning.