Signed up for my first long swim and after hearing the reaction from family and friends (haven't told anyone at work yet), I'm wondering how other people respond when you tell them that you're going to do a swim.
Here's some of what I got:
"Why on earth would you want to do something like that?"
"You're nuts!"
"You could drown!"
"That's so dangerous!"
"You'd better get your will done first."
"What are you thinking? You have a family!"
"You could get eaten by a shark..."
"The jellyfish will get you..."
"People invented boats and bridges to get across rivers, we're not supposed to swim across them."
"Are you going to use a gas mask?"
"The water's so polluted, you are going to get sick."
"If you want to swim, can't you do it in the pool where it's safe?"
Only one person said "That's awesome, you must be in great shape."
Do you get similar responses? And how do you answer them? I'm beginning to wonder what the rest of the world thinks of us...
My family thought I was nuts for doing a 2.7 mi lake swim, yet on that same weekend my brother and nephew did the Ruby Crest Trail Run, a 43 mi run in the mountains near our home. Not a word about them being goofy (except from me).
If I had the fitness, how cool would it be to do both in the same weekend--thereby getting both my runnerbuds and my swimmerbuds on my case! :D
I get the running related "are you nuts" questions anyway in addition to the swimming related ones.
Ex.'s
Don't you know you'll wreck your knees? (My brother's dr. had a good answer to that--"Costs less to fix a bad knee than a bad heart and it's a whole lot easier.")
A man puffing away on a cigarette and listening to a story of my almost getting hit by a truck (which fate I fortunately escaped with some record sprinting): "See that's a sign you shouldn't be running." To him: "I think if I'd gotten hit, that would be a sign I shouldn't be running." (I barely refrained from commenting about how his coughing might be a sign that he shouldn't be smoking.)
On cold days when I run, "You'll freeze your lungs!" Hmmm... lungcicles... intriguing....
I've never gotten this myself but other women report that people have told them their uterus will fall out. Say what???
I had a friend worried sick before my ocean swim--asking, I admit, the same questions I pondered myself--and by reassuring her, I found that I was also reassuring myself. So in a way she did me a favor.
And sure I got the "wow, that's so cool" responses. But more important, the person who most needs to have that response to my swimming or running is the one I face in the mirror.
My family thought I was nuts for doing a 2.7 mi lake swim, yet on that same weekend my brother and nephew did the Ruby Crest Trail Run, a 43 mi run in the mountains near our home. Not a word about them being goofy (except from me).
If I had the fitness, how cool would it be to do both in the same weekend--thereby getting both my runnerbuds and my swimmerbuds on my case! :D
I get the running related "are you nuts" questions anyway in addition to the swimming related ones.
Ex.'s
Don't you know you'll wreck your knees? (My brother's dr. had a good answer to that--"Costs less to fix a bad knee than a bad heart and it's a whole lot easier.")
A man puffing away on a cigarette and listening to a story of my almost getting hit by a truck (which fate I fortunately escaped with some record sprinting): "See that's a sign you shouldn't be running." To him: "I think if I'd gotten hit, that would be a sign I shouldn't be running." (I barely refrained from commenting about how his coughing might be a sign that he shouldn't be smoking.)
On cold days when I run, "You'll freeze your lungs!" Hmmm... lungcicles... intriguing....
I've never gotten this myself but other women report that people have told them their uterus will fall out. Say what???
I had a friend worried sick before my ocean swim--asking, I admit, the same questions I pondered myself--and by reassuring her, I found that I was also reassuring myself. So in a way she did me a favor.
And sure I got the "wow, that's so cool" responses. But more important, the person who most needs to have that response to my swimming or running is the one I face in the mirror.
