Exercise Snobs

During my lunch hour today, I read an article on CNN.com about a woman training for her first triathlon. She'd had a "bad" workout and was relaying her story. It went something like this:

I'm training for my first triathlon. I went for a 6-mile run, the longest distance I've gone. It was hot and humid and started raining. Then some birds came and pecked me on the head until I screamed enough and waved my arms enough to make them go away. Then it poured and my shoes were wet. I finished my run, but it sucked. It's sort of funny now. But it sucked. Some workouts just suck. But you have to persevere.

I'm paraphrasing, of course. But you can read it here: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/06/tri-challenge-not-every-workout-is-a-good-one/?hpt=hp_bn6

The photo of the author Anastasia showed that she was new to this sport called running. And all I could think of was, "Holy crap. You go, girl! Good for you for busting it out."

And then I read the comments after the story. One dude mocked her for calling 6 miles a "long" run. Another dissed her for eating before her workout. Yet another chided her for calling a run with rain and birds attacking "bad" and getting frustrated so easily.

(Umm, for the record, if birds pecked my head, I'd flip out. Then tell the whole world.)

Their smug attitudes really yanked my chain. Attitudes like that are why people like me don't go to the gym. It's why I was too self-conscious to run a block, walk a block when I lived in town. It's why I didn't want to talk to anyone about what I was feeling/thinking/doing when I first started because I thought people would mock me.

She ran 6 damn miles! That's something to be celebrated!

Do you know any exercise snobs? Don't let them get to you. Do what you do because it's right for you. And if you need a cheering section, I'm willing to scream and cheer and applaud and so are the others that read this blog.

And here's the comment I wanted to post, but didn't:

Six miles is a LONG run when you're new to training (and for 99% of everyone reading CNN.com) and rain/humidity/bird attacks are clearly obstacles. Let's cut her some slack and support the effort. Anastasia ... you already know you're doing something great FOR YOU. No one else has to approve it, like it or applaud it. It's also 100 times harder for someone to do this the first time than it is for Michael and Alan to do it the 100th time. (Isn't it funny how some people need to publicly validate their own accomplishments while putting down another's? "Look at me" much?)