And Gosh Darn It, People Like You!

Stuart
Originally uploaded by jjactive2.

Runner's World has given me a three-issue, complementary subscription and I read the magazine last night for the first time in a few years. I was enjoying it until I noticed that "The Penguin," John Bingham, is still writing the same Stuart Smalley column each month:

"Why run a marathon in five hours when you could run it in six? I understand that this sounds like blasphemy to the sport's hardliners, but for me being in a race is like going to a theme park. I want to be the first through the turnstile, and I want to stay until they throw me out."

I don't think runners need this "permission to fail," this ad nauseam reinforcement from the Penguin that it's OK not to try too hard in a race. IN FACT, READING THIS MESSAGE OVER AND OVER IS KIND OF FREAKING ME OUT, PENGUIN! While you enjoy your Deactivation, check the defintion of "race" in the context of sports: "A competition of speed, as in running or riding."

"Hey, Bill, don't worry about the half-ass spreadsheet you created: The Board doesn't want you to strain yourself and, gee, they don't really need to know the year-to-date profit margins, anyway. And Dr. Jones, I know you removed that patient's kidney instead of her appendix, but relax: Who has time to get it right? She probably didn't even have insurance!"

You can waddle on with the Penguin or hit the track for interval training. Or read this inspiring story about 45-year-old Ironman Jamie Arnold, who believes that anything worth doing is worth doing well.