Name The Most Demotivational Thing You Have Ever Heard... (Page 7)

I've done 5 tri's over the past two years...and no one's come out to watch me.  My big sister does her first 1/2 marathon (last October) and the whole family shows up to cheer her on.  Oh well...lol.

My ex, when I first started training, laughed about how long it took me to finish a 5K race (10+ minute miles...slow, I know).  He said he could easily finish in 24-25 minutes.  But, because of "shin splints", he'd never train with me or sign up for race. 

Thankfully, I got rid of that loser!

This was the worst for me though.  I'd been cut from the Varsity basketball team my Junior year of high school.  So I played J.V. and tried out again Senior year.  I made the team...but the coach had a long talk with me to let me know that I was the 12th man, I would be mostly a practice player and to not be disappointed if I didn't make it into games.  He asked if I would be ok with that...and I said absolutely.  I understood my role on the team and I was ok with it.  I knew I wouldn't see much playing time, but I knew that from the start.

Every damn game my parents would yell at me from the bleachers to "say something!" to the coach.  They reeeeaaaalllly thought I should be playing more.  They would get so angry if I didn't get into the game or if I only made it in for a couple minutes.  They made the season games miserable for me.

I wrote them a note explaining how I felt and asking them not to come to my games anymore...but I never had the guts to give it to them.

I still had fun...loved being on the team, loved practice and enjoyed when I got into a game.

I'm a very normal size, maybe a little tall, for a white American woman. My host sister in China would comment repeatedly on how "strong" I looked. Eventually I figured out she used the words "strong" and "player" (like basketball player) to mean "big".

Then there was the time my feet swelled (probably due to all the seafood my host family ate) to a size 8.5 and I needed to buy new shoes. I knew just enough chinese to ask for a size 39. Literally, every woman in the department store turned and stared at me. The white girl with huge feet. No, they did not have shoes that big.

Combine that with the facts I was taller than everyone I saw, period, and had to buy XL shirts and dresses if I wanted new cute clothes, I was immensly relieved to get back to the states and not feel like a giant.

However, it was fun to run in the mornings and have an old guy on a bike try to keep up with me. And that one morning that I found a track... The Chinese guy who kept up with me for a lap was beaming. Those were pretty good times.

Oh, and I totally forgot something my stepdad said to me...."Your feet are so big they are like fins.  No wonder you swim fast.  I bet you could waterski on those things no problem".  He was playing around though since he was just jealous that he had small, little man feet and I could wear his shoes when I was in 8th grade.

The coach was dead serious though.  And while I had no qualms with my physical attributes, for the most part, at that point in my life, I couldn't believe he had the nerve to actually say that to someone. 

After Eagleman, my first half ironman, I stopped by my parents' house to pick up my dog.  I had just finished the race earlier that day. I was really excited, had a great race, felt good about it, and was telling them all about it.  Mentioned that I got a medal and asked them if they wanted to see it.  My dad said "they give you a medal just for finishing?!" 

Before running my second marathon, my mom asked me if I was going to continue to run marathons.  I said, yeah, I enjoy it!  She said that she didn't think it was a good idea.  Asked her what was wrong with running?  She said that running is fine, but I was running too much, and shouldn't be "running like a fool".   Heh.