Let me begin by saying, I’m a very private person and I know that I am hard to get to know but it really is hard for me to put myself out there for others to see and to criticize.
Jenn Shelton came up to me once (this was probably around 2004 or 2005 and told me that I was much nicer than she had previously thought I was. I thought this comment was odd…….I’m a friendly person and people like me, right? I questioned her on this comment and apparently people had asked if her if I was nice and how come I didn’t smile more and wave while I was running on the trails. I thought, why would I, I’m here to work. This is serious to me. But after that I did make an effort to smile more and to be more approachable to others. And I do think it’s worked. More people come up to me and say hi now. I want people to talk to me!!!!!!!!!! LOL
Then………
A couple of years later Kelly Taylor told me someone similar. She had a hard time getting to know me and commented “You are a hard person to get to know but I’ve learned that with the amount of training that you do, it’s merely self preservation.” What she meant it that my whole life is dedicated to training.
When I go to a race, I’m serious about it. I spend the majority of my life training. I run twice a day and if I lift weights that means I’ve worked out 3 times that day. On days I work, I get up at 0430 to run before work and then when I leave work I might have to work out again. I sleep a lot b/c I’m tired. I also have a life to take care of just like everyone else (bills, dogs, errands, cleaning ect.). This doesn’t leave time for socializing. I rarely go to parties. I don’t go to clubs. I don’t drink. And I don’t stay out past 8 or 9pm b/c I’m tired and I have to run in the morning. So, wow don’t I sound like a lot of fun. LOL. This means I don’t have a lot of friends unless they are runners. I’ve isolated myself. Don’t get me wrong, for the most part I’m okay with this. I’ve chosen this life and I love it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Occasionally, I wish I had more time to hang out with other people and make more friends but there’s only so much time in the day and I can only do what I can.
Point is……..I’m a hard person to get to know. I’m very private and I don’t give a lot at first. But I think once someone takes the time to get to know me……I end up making lasting friendships. Ones that are real and stand the test of time.
I love my running buddies!!
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