This was in today's "Dear Abby" column in the paper:
DEAR ABBY: I am a 55-year-old female who competes in triathlons for fun, fitness and health. I consulted my doctor because I was having foot pain. When I told him I was a runner and was preparing for a marathon race, his response was, "At your age, you could hardly call it a race."
I was shocked. I repeated the insulting comment to my husband, who has never supported me in this nor attended my races. He replied, "Well, you don't actually consider yourself an athlete, do you?"
I am so offended that I want to dismiss both my doctor and my husband. I just finished a race with 5,000 women. Every one of them was fabulous and serious, no matter how old or what they looked like. It was the spirit of the sport that mattered. At what age does one stop being an athlete? -- OLDER ATHLETE, EUGENE, ORE.
This raised some interesting questions in my mind about support, encouragement, or the lack thereof. I don't want to discuss the "athlete-yes-or-no" question. Instead, I'd like to know how people out there deal with non-supportive spouses, friends, co-workers, doctors, etc.
My own experience includes being teased by my co-workers for "getting beat by a 70-year-old woman." (This was after a big meet where they viewed my results on the Internet.) This came from men who are at least 50 pounds overweight and can barely walk from their cars to their desks.
Former Member
Says the USMS Pin-up girl... ;) :laugh2:
Happy New Year (S)he-Man
Awww. . . thank you so much! Happy New Year to you too!
With that kind of positive comment, I KNOW I'll have an awesome practice tomorrow morning!
Jellyfish king?! When Spring comes around, will I see an Easter Bunny in the hot tub as your avatar? Or perhaps a Leprechaun in green speedos? And with Valentine's day around the corner, how about a cherub in white speedos?
:laugh2:
(S)he-man:
I don't think it's geographical, but who knows? There were swimmer hookups even in my day. And even in Islandsox's day. ;) I always dated swimmers until law school -- when there weren't any. :eek: Judging from my local summer team and the number of chaperones at USS travel meets, I think the swimmer-swimmer hormonal hook-up tradition marches on.
It's the non-swimmer boys that mock the shoulders, etc. And I have heard the word "moose" from more than one. But if they want "high maintenance barbies," as someone just referred to them privately, they can have them!
I think Rude Hormonal Fortress will do just fine. She even has long blond barbie hair to cover her broad shoulders, as you may recall from the time she was my avatar. (Whoops, she still is my avatar.) And she definitely makes me seem like a mild *** cat. :cool: That's why it's going to be a rough few years...
Ah yes. . . the swimmer travel meets! I learned so much back then! I don't know how the parent chaperones tolerated us!! I remember them taping our doors shut at night to ensure that we would not sneak out of the hotel rooms. Those were the days of fast swimming, unlimited energy, and hormones!!
I know that your daughter will hold her own against those few who find it necessary to throw silly comments her way.
I too cracked up at my second quote that I have listed regarding not buttering bread. In reality, I'm not that high maintenance! Much of Barbie has long since been beaten out of me. I have a wonderful husband who loves that I swim and supports it and my endeavors 100%. So, I LOVE to cook for him. :D
My husband is very supportive of my swimming and I think it is because I was a swimmer before we met so he knew it was vital to my life; it contributed to making me who I am. But he did find swim meets boring, but he would drive to them just in time to see me swim and then leave. But he came all the same.
Now, I do always see a doctor when I go home each year just for a checkup and all. One I don't see anymore said this to me, and don't forget, I am overweight: "you need to exercise." I told him I did, that I swam about 6 miles every day or so. He said, no, real exercise like walking.
And in Roatan's first triathlon down here, I was sitting around a restaurant with other swimmers and asked one woman, probably late 30s or so, if she swam Masters. Her response was this: Everyone is in Masters which is only known for lap swimmers; I can swim all day long without stopping, why would I want to be bothered? I was floored because not only did she not truly know that Masters can be whatever a swimmer wants it to be, she insulted lap swimmers. I asked her about her mile swim times and she told me she is always in the top 3. That triathlon was my first one down here and I was 3rd overall in the women, she was 7th.
Like someone else wrote here: put your money where your mouth is.
Donna
I have a wonderful husband who loves that I swim and supports it and my endeavors 95%. And I LOVE it when he cooks for me. :D
He sounds whipped...just my :2cents:
I thought you said men were frightened by strong women... :rofl: How exactly are you using the above adjective? In that funny Richjb British-humor way or in an affectionate :smooch: way?
Well if it get's him to cook your dinner for you....kudos!
Did you just say cook "my" dinner for "me?" :rofl: I think there is a slight misunderstanding here, jellyfish KING dude living in the PALACE. :thhbbb: Did you not see that picture of my family I posted on New Years?! There is a lot more than just one person sitting at the table here in my house ...:rofl: Mr. Fortress usually gives me an assist or handles it on the weekends. I'll take whatever I can get. I used to love to cook, but the hectic, go-go, make dinner in 30 minutes for a gaggle of hungry squakers takes all the fun out of it ... Wait until your kids grow up!! Do you have to cook when your wife is belly-dancing?
I am a good cook. I am thinking of retraining to be a chef. Then I am going to open a restaurant in the "Northern part of Virginia" exlcusively catering to "elite" swimmers...
That picture looked like it had several able bodied chefs in the picture....
OK Last thursday I was at home alone. I made the kids lunch and hten decided to eat up the leftovers...Friday I get food poisoing...I don't cook for 1.
Please come!! Do you really think teenage boys like to cook? Not. College kids think that you are supposed to live on pizza and booze. Are there any "elite" swimmers in the "northern part of virginia?" I think they all live in NC and NY and are participating in the annual postal hour swim ... I know one "elite" breaststroker. If you come, I'll arrange a special private lesson! Now how can you resist that? Mr. Fortress will cook. Or I wil grill. I'm good with the grill...
Look don't blame me because you let your kids run riot and don't make them cook now and then...:D
Sounds like its decided. Our spouses don't have to understand us or like what we do. But if they can feed our souls along with our stomachs in the kitchen, we're happy.
This sounds like a fair trade off. I get to eat more good food, and I'm less dysfunctional since most of my stress is left with my sweat in the pool.
BTW my teenage sons can cook Ramen noodles and pancakes. :banana:
When desperate, I have seen my 15 year old eat Ramens raw. But usually they go in the pot. I give him credit- he's done scrambled eggs and ham along with his pancakes given the proper motivation (i.e. parents not cooking).
As for me, give me a good hunk of tuna steak and I can sear it and douse it wine sauce that makes my heart sing.
We have snow on the ground in Minnesota but its melting tomorrow. :mad:
