Name The Most Demotivational Thing You Have Ever Heard... (Page 4)

During my 1st Olympic this last year where I completely botched my nutrition because of nerves and cramped up like crazy about a mile into the run. This bigger guy 5'7''ish north of 200lbs that I was running along side of goes to me, "bigger guys like us just can't be as fast as the skinny guys." I'm 5'7'' and weighed 160 at the time. He was trying to make me feel better but really made me feel really fat and out of shape.

Another one I just thought of. On the 1st day of class this year my professor asks if anyone in the room is a runner and I raise my hand. This over weight girl in my class goes, "He's a runner?!?" I wanted to hurt her.

That gurgling noise I heard as I swallowed a mouthful of saline water during my first Master's swim class.  Either that or the voice in my head that quickly followed saying "you sir, are drowning"  Rough day....

I was doing one of my first HIMs on a wicked hot and sticky day. Towards the end we are running through the park were another athlethe and his family was packing up and heading home. The guy's little kid sees me and then pulls on his dad's hand and says, "Daddy why are there people still out there. You finished like an hour ago."

OK, that made me laugh! 

Damn those voices inside our heads . . . mine does not usually speak up on race day until the run, then it goes something like this "Just make it to the next aid station dumb-a$$"

How could I forget the one in my signature.

It wasn't just the words either which are harsh enough but the way he said them.  He had zero confidence in me and seemed to enjoy putting me down.  I would imagine he knows I have done a few tri's by now through our boys, take that!  LOL

Ouch.  That hurt my feelings just reading it.


Secretary says I'm obsessive and that walking is healthier than running.

'Let's get cheesesteaks tonight.'

From Rocky movies...

"Can he swim?"
"With a name like Rock?"

Also, I wanted someone to tell Adrian to STFU

"You can't win Rocky!" 

Me personally... it was a quota related issue when I was in the Navy. (from 1988)

"Well, you have the ASVAB, SAT, and ACT scores in the top 1% of applicants but quite frankly, you are too white.  We can't accept you for this program at this time because we have to meet quotas."

I had a similar experience at a job fair at my university, where the recruiter said, "If you were black or female I'd hire you on the spot."

Took a couple months, but I ended up getting the position anyway, and have been here 20 years. The recruiter turned out to be a hired consultant who didn't last long.

Most demotivational thing said to me was by my 6th grade PE coach.

We were running the mile (1600m) as part of our presidential fitness program.  To keep track of our laps, we had a partner hand us popsicle sticks at the end of each lap.  I finished my first lap and my partner (Tony, a great athlete and soon-to-be state champion wrestler) handed me my first stick.  Same thing after laps 2 and 3.  At the end of the lap 4, we were to get our 4th stick and handed all four to our coach.

At the end of lap 4, Tony came back to run the last 50m with me because I was finishing first!  We high fived at the end and were both really excited.

Coach looked at my time and said, "You have one more lap to go."  Tony spoke up for me and said that I had finished all four laps.  I pleaded my case, showing the coach all 4 of my sticks ... but to no avail.  She said, "No kid can run the mile that fast."  (It was just over 7 minutes.)

So away I went.  I found a group of girls that were walking their laps, and I hooked in with them.  I walked the last lap and came through with a time of over 14 minutes!  Coach said she was disappointed in me, but at least I had a time that I knew was truthful.

After that, when I was recruited for track and cross country, I turned away the possibilities of what I MIGHT be able to do and focused on my saxophone instead.  (No regrets there, tho!  I loved my time in band and choir!!)

Now, as a mid-30s guy, I enjoy running again.  But I often think back to that coach with regret... if only she had believed me.  Would I have stayed in track and CC?  What would my running be like today?

BTW - Tony and I still talk about that day all these years later!

-Joel

+1

(on the last mile of about a 4mile run with the distance kids on the track team, said by the coach to me)


"in a hurry to get back so you can get some twinkies?!?"


i still to this day 16-17years later hear those words ringing in my ears.  even when i am standing on the podium!!!!

there are a handfull of people that know about this and joke with me.  to be honest it makes me fighting mad!

At a recent 10K (2 loops), I caught up to the guy in front of me as we were going up a long hill. I said, "this hill really sucks the second time around...". I didn't mean it as a demotivator, but I saw him slump after that. Oops!

One of my buddies: 'We reach our physical peak at 25, it's all downhill from there'. 

Come on now, that's INSANITY!  Tell that to the 60 and 70 year olds who are completing IM's, tell that to all the people in their early 30's who reign at the top of their sport (whether it be bodybuilding, triathlon, hockey, baseball, etc, people in their early/mid-30's are all over the place). 

After blowing up at what was probably my fourth attempt to qualify for Boston, my husband said to me "Maybe you aren't cut out to run marathons"....those were fighting words.  Next try, BQ.

Flash forward two years, I couldn't swim 100 yards without suffocating....my husband said to me "Maybe you weren't cut out to be a swimmer...", those were fighting words.  Next year HIM completed. I had him wear a t-shirt that said "My wife is a mermaid".

The set up: I played D3 football at Colby College (the mighty White Mules).  We are in the NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) with schools like Tufts, Bowdoin, Williams, etc.  Not exactly the SEC.

After a particularly bad practice our coach said: "Let's get one thing straight gentlemen... if you can't play football here, you can't play anywhere!" Harsh, but true and, in retrospect, very funny.

I agree to an extent.  I'm new to this forum but I've been a runner for a couple of years now.  There are some guys on the runners world site that are just awful to newbies and just people in general.  They act like their word is gospel because they've been running longer than anyone else and most of the time its very demotivating.  I have helped my sister lose weight before and am in the process  of doing it again, and other peoples opinions/words can greatly affect those who aren't as strong willed.  I didn' get into it with anyone myself, but I took up for some people, and that ticked them off.  I stopped visiting that site for that reason alone.  

If you think you can do it, then by all means, give it all you've got.  The worst that can happen is death, and thats going to happen anyway so you might as well die giving it your best shot.

A football coach to a fellow player:  Are you that stupid or is it just your goal in life to pi$$  me off.

Edited by jrondorf 2010-01-22 3:44 PM

There are people that, because of a hidden (or not-so-hidden) selfishness and insecurity, will justify their not doing things like triathlons, exercising, etc, by tearing you down a notch.  Whether or not you take those comments and let it feed your drive to succeed doesn't make the comments any less idiotic and self-serving.