Don’t Congratulate Me For Running
I do not have the stereotypical “athletic” body, whatever that actually means. I admit, I am on the chubby side. I have curves. I like to think of myself as voluptuous. But even though my thighs touch and my stomach has a few curves, that doesn’t mean I don’t run or work-out.
During lunch one work day, I was down in the onsite gym – a decent facility with the typical cardio equipment, a complete set of free weights, and various weight machines. I had moved to Virginia back in the fall, and where I lived previously in California, I had walked everywhere, every day. The lack of walking, now that I was in Virginia, had resulted in some unwanted pounds. So I had started doing cardio at lunch, in addition to my evening workouts, to make up for the fact that I don’t walk as many miles everyday. That day, I opted to not just walk, but to do running intervals. When I do intervals, I mix it up, but that day I walked 3 minutes, then ran 2, which I repeated 5 times with a 5 minute cool, for a total of 30 minutes. In total, I did a little over 2 miles.
As it’s an onsite work gym, there are usually at least a half dozen or more people there at lunch. That day was no different. At least eight other people were doing a variety of workouts - walking, running, biking, strength training. Because I get bored on the treadmill, I tend to watch other folks. I noticed two other women running, one walking, one guy on the elliptical, two women and three guys doing a variety of strength training. I thought nothing of these folks, other than to see if I could get ideas on new and different exercises to do.
After my workout, I headed to the locker room to change. I just happened to be in there the same time as one of the other runners. She had, you could say, the stereotypical “athletic” body – narrow hips, flat stomach, sinewy arms, thighs that don’t touch. I had noticed that she ran the entire time she was on the treadmill, but I couldn’t tell you how long, how fast, or how far she had run. Yet the first thing this stranger said to me was “I saw you running. Way to go.”
I probably cocked my head like my dog does when I talk to him, because I was momentarily confused. Did she just give me a verbal high-five … for running? My internal dialogue at this point went a bit nuts. She just congratulated me on running because I’m fat. Would she have said the same thing to the young woman running on the treadmill next to her or the older man running a few treadmills down? I can’t say for sure since I don’t know this person (and had never seen her before that day), but I’m guessing, probably not. Being the enteral polite southerner, I stammered out some sort of thanks, and then stuttered something about intervals, which she responded that she also sometimes did. The only comeback I really made was to say that I ran for the bling – inferring that I did actually run races.
As usual, I thought of the perfect comeback hours later. I could have said “Yeah, today was a light run day because I have an hour of strength training this evening” (which I did do along with another 20 minutes of cardio). If I had been particularly saucy, I could have said, “Yes, I’m chubby, but that doesn’t mean I can’t run.” Instead, I said none of these things because I was flabbergasted. I honestly don’t think she said it maliciously. But I do think she said it out of ignorance – ignorance that only a certain body type is “athletic,” that only skinny folks are “fit.” And sometimes ignorance is almost as bad as viciousness.
My universal philosophy: don’t judge a book by its cover. Good advice for people as well as books. Just because I’m fat doesn’t mean I’m unfit. I can do a lot of things that so-called “fit” people can’t. I have great hip flexibility and can touch not only my toes, but put my palms flat on the ground. I do yoga and swim. I have finished multiple half marathons (13.1 miles), and have even done one full marathon (yep, I did all 26.2 miles). Yes, there are things I can’t do, but that’s true of anyone – we all have different strengths and different abilities. And thanks to my yoga practice, I have learned to listen to my body and I don’t judge myself against anyone else. My body works and moves its own way, and that’s going to be different from the way anyone else’s body works and moves. I compete only against myself and I recognized a long time ago, there’s some things I probably won’t ever be able to do (a full, unsupported pull-up – but that’s not for lack of trying), some things I work hard on (push-ups, crow position), and some things that come easy to me (tree pose, anything that involves hip flexibility). We each have our own abilities, our own strengths, our own goals and motivations. So don’t “congratulate” me for being in the gym – ask me whether I’m training for an event, or what my personal goals are, or even if I have any workout tips.
And if you see me out running, just say “hi.”
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