I was listening to The Marathon Show podcast and heard the phrase 'you've been chicked'. The term means when a woman passes a man you'd say 'the man has been chicked'. Made me immediately wonder what it's called when a man passes a woman. Perhaps because men are thought of as traditionally faster than women, there is no term for it. But the whole idea of passing made me think of America's fascination with speed and it's affect on runner's rapport towards one another in the field. Being a consistent 11 minute a mile runner made me think of the fact that there will always be faster runners than me, at least until I get faster. On my runs I am most certainly always passed by faster runners, often times younger men who wizz past me triumphantly. The fact that I am passed has not bothered me much until I talked to my hubby and he expressed how good it feels pass other runners. I now run and wonder, 'is this guy mentally screaming victory too as he passes me?', my answer is, 'most likely.' As a good Buddhist, I am working on this and each time it happens I have to remind myself that I am not competing against the person who passes me, I am only ever competing against myself. In a way, each time a person passes me is an opportunity to remind myself of this fact.
How about you out there....are you a passer or a 'passee'? How do you feel on either end of this issue? In the end I have to celebrate the fact that I can run, the fact that I ran 2 hours and 20 minutes non-stop last weekend and the fact that I have found something I really love to do.....being passed allows me to practice focusing on what I do have....
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