Sunday, July 06, 2008

The genuine article

The first time I met them was in high school: fellow students who left the classroom after a test, moaning and groaning saying: 'I did terrible! I'm sure I'll get an F!' and blithely proceeded to get an A. While I sadly took in my F, because when I said I didn't do very well, I was telling the truth.

As a mom you meet them too. You go for a visit and your hostess opens the door, and while you're still blinded by the bright glare of her gleamingly clean floorboards she declares: 'Please, don't mind the mess! It's terrible in here.'

Indeed, even as a runner you cannot escape them! Sympathetically they lean towards me , whispering: 'I'm soo slow! Everyone is always faster than me!'

Pleasantly suprised at not being the only one I happily respond: 'Why don't we run together then?' but I can't hear her answer because she's already six miles down the road, leaving me to spit her dust out of my mouth.

They are the fakes among the authentics. The knock offs among the real article.

But oh, how I would like to be the fake sometimes, instead of the genuine article!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved this- it patterns my life! The tests in school, the women and their houses- the running! A good friend once described me to a group upon introduction as "genuinely authentic" and I loved that. But yes, being fake and being able to back it up would be cool once and a while!

JP said...

You and me, Kid...you and me.

(have you seen the turtle tat on my foot? True to life respresentation of how slow I run, LOL)

Molly said...

LOL!! So true

Ang said...

LOL! This was a great post. I can relate 100%!

amydear said...

But when you work hard and become the "genuine article" ie: reach your goal and get faster than you are now, you can feel better than all those who just pretend! I'm not very big on false humility either, and your sentence about the gleaming floorboards was very well written!

Jessica said...

well said. I loved it!! It just happened to me this last weekend in fact as my SIL left me in the dust after saying, "I haven't trained at all and am going to do so bad..."

Cynthia said...

Just happened to me this weekend!

Kelly(M&M) said...

I completely understand this post and I love it! And don't worry, when I say my house is messy, it really is. In fact, when I say it's clean, it is probably still messy. :-)

I also love Amy's comment about working hard and becoming the genuine article. It has taken me many years to gain any sort of speed and I still feel like a "wannabe runner" sometimes, but I love seeing progress.We all start somewhere. Some of us just start on a lower rung on the ladder.

Thanks for your post!