So, I had a very interesting experience this weekend I want to share. A few weeks ago I decided to finally get it together and race a 4 miler. I have been lifting like a maniac for the first time, and despite being stuck on a treadmill for the past few months, I finally feel like I am starting to get some speed back. Well, the race was a gigantic cluster-f. I felt terrible, and got bumped from second to third female in the last 400m. Walkers totally got in the way of the front runners, and had a shit fit when I gave them the customary "on your left". A group of women actually did the mean girls style "Oh My God! She said 'Runners on left' What a bitch!". Seriously, you are a WALKER. Get out of the way.
I finished with an okay time of 25:08. I get that this is a 6:17 mile pace, and many people would die to be able to run that fast, HOWEVER, it felt terrible, and it was just a poor race in general.
So, my dumb self decides to post my time and place on the page of a certain running group (of women no less) and gets absolutely ripped to shreds. Mind you, this is a group where women post all the time about their accomplishments and get serious accolades for doing things like "running for a whole 5k-no walking", or placing in an age group at a 5k. So, apparently, when I posted a fast time and followed it with the comment that it was an "ugly race, but getting better" that pissed some of them off. I got "you should consider the audience of the group and not post times like that", and "the time that you are complaining about many would love, just saying'". Wow. High school style much? I guess it doesn't matter that I work out super hard, live a clean lifestyle, pay for races, coach, volunteer, etc. I guess I am just a show off and a bia-tch. I like to refer to this conundrum as "fast shaming". We are supposed to praise the 45 minute 5k runner for such a wonderful accomplishment, and the six hour marathoner for "sticking with it", but if you run a fast time, even not as fast as you feel you could have, you shouldn't boast of even speak of it for that matter.
I have certainly learned my lesson. No longer will I put up times in a group of women. They can wallow in their own self-rigeousness and keep congratulating eachother for their "accomplishments".
I'll just post on the pages of my FAST friends.
Keep running.
