A several years back I was a volunteer at the finish line of the White Rock Marathon in Dallas, TX. I knew that a Major Championship winning golfer was running in his first marathon and as an avid follower of the sport I was lucky enough to recognize and see him cross the finish line.
As a volunteer that day, my job was to help people after they crossed the Finish Line and give them their medals. The runners numbers were color coded so that one color meant it was their first marathon. As a behind the pack runner myself I had never thought I'd ever do a marathon and was impressed by those that achieved such an accomplishment. I tried to get to all of the virgin marathoners and I would raise their medal to hang around their necks. Most lowered their head gracious to receive their medal and I would say "Congratulations - you are a Marathoner!" Several teared up and all said "thank you!"
As I approached the Champion golfer I raised the medal to hang around his neck and said "Congratulations - you are a Marathoner!" However, he's response was not the same as the others. He snatched the medal from my hand and said, "what did you expect?!" and kept right on walking. I wanted to kick him in the back of the hamstring! He's lucky that I even knew who he was because no one else did. Since then, I've wished for him to hit every drive in the woods and I try to put the jinx on every putt he attempts. (I don't hold grudges).
Yesterday a friend, who is a newbie at Triathlon, was looking for suggestions for a Heart Rate monitor. I told her what I used and gave some suggestions for ones that I knew others used. I follow many of the professional triathletes on Twitter and I had the thought as they tweeted I'd look at their web pages and their Sponsors and see if they listed which HR monitor they used. If they didn't have it listed or just a brand I gave them a simple Tweet of "Do you train with a HR monitor, if so, which one? THANK YOU!" I hoped for some responses, but didn't really expect one.
However, one did respond. A World Champion! A 3x World Champion! Her response, "i dont use one, never have" (If you look quick it's even on her web page under her tweets!) I already was a huge fan of hers by the way she runs her races. She's always smiling and looks to be having a great time. At this past Ironman Arizona after winning, she came out to the finish line later to hand out Finisher Medals to Age Groupers as the clock was winding down. One of my friends was fortunate enough to receive his medal from her along with a congratulatory kiss! Here's wishing her all of the good luck in the world. May she always have air in her tires and finishes first in every one of her races!
Both have demanding schedules. Both are professionals. Both are Champions. One said 4 words. One wrote 6 words. You can have a very quick positive or negative impression on people. You decide how you want to be remembered!
PS This was not about golfers vs triathletes, nor male vs female.
No comments:
Post a Comment