In college, sports were the perfect excuse for leaving a party early or not going out at all: "I have to get up at 5:30 and row for three hours, so I think I'll just sit this one out." Plus, there was an entire team of Amazon women to back me up.
Now that I'm done with college and am still getting up early for athletics, the same excuse has a different effect. People aren't impressed by my dedication; instead, they are stupefied or annoyed. Or they just stop hanging out with me. Many of my peers have hinted to me that not only is my running habit a little weird, it's an unhealthy phase I'll evenually get past.
This makes me ask myself questions like the following:
When do people reach the age when eating well and exercising is seen as cool?
Is it an American thing rather than an age thing?
Will I ever find friends close by who like me for the slightly-obsessive, early-to-bed, driven running I am?
Is it too needy-sounding to put a "I need friends who run" post on my local running club's discussion board?
Until I find out the answers to my questions, my publicist is issuing this statement:
While Molly Brannan does not like like to drink until she throws up and she does like to get up early for a hard run, she is not a prude. She is fun to be with. She even likes to eat. And swear. A lot.
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Well, at the risk of sounding too needy ;-), after the Shamrock you should join my friends and I for mass consumption and foul language. That is, if I survive 13 miles. On second thought, better add a beer or two to that scenario.
I lost loads of friends to fitness as well. No one understood and every one thought "this too will pass." I even had a friend that told me "since you lost weight you're not fun to go out with anymore..." then later explained that she "was embarassed to go out with someone that makes her fatter looking in comparison." True colours sure do shine through when insecurities come into play.
I'm really fortunate to work where I do though. There is a support network of runners, swimmers, triathletes, cyclists, etc. here like no other. My boss is even an avid runner (which really makes it easier to explain why I need to move meetings closer to my office during my bout with shin splints :-)). I'm not entirely sure what you do for a living, but I've learned that my coworkers have proven to be quite invaluable in finding friends that don't look at me like a mad man when I say I'm going to run 13 miles without the police chasing me.
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