Encouraging More and Competing Less: a Tribute to My Workout Friends

It's been a rough couple weeks.   My little cat's treatment for her IBD and pancreatic disease has not been successful, so we are having to add a pancreatic enzyme to her food.  Running back and forth to the vet has been trying.  Hearing that she pooped in a flip-flop because she couldn't make it to the litter was upsetting.


Back to a 5-year-old phone for me

Then, my eye prescription changed again.  I just tried getting used to a new prescription in February and I thought I was good, and then BAM! Migraines, blurry vision, vertigo, etc.  Because of the inner ear/eye relationship (Doctor Google vestibular-ocular reflex), it can be really hard for me to get an eye prescription that works without making me dizzy.  Running back and forth to the eye doctor has been trying. 

Next, my phone died.  All you Urban Athletes out there like me (I mean those of us who live in mid-rise and high-rise buildings) can relate: I use the RunKeeper GPS app for those days when my running watch GPS will not lock because the city blocks it out.  Oh, and tunes. So now I really can't use either, because my backup phone is +5 years old and barely makes calls/sends texts.  My phone contract isn't up until January. Whee.

Last but certainly not least: Mom's chemo has been stalled.  Her platelets are down and the onco thinks it might be something besides just the chemo.  We have another week of waiting for them to come back up to see what the next plan of action is.

Long story short: I needed some encouraging.

I am a big fan of a blog called Becoming Minimalist.  It's all about doing more with less (less material things), but along the way the author(s) and guest author(s) share their discoveries about how doing this has changed the way they look at life.

The other day they shared a list of ways to "encourage more and compete less."  Apparently, the author ran a marathon and was impressed by how supportive the other runners were. I thought right away about my workout friends.  I don't get to see them much now that we are on different sides of town, but they ARE so encouraging. They've set up cheering stations for first-timers at other races. They're zero-ego, zero-drama, fun people who are willing to share what they know about the sport(s).  They have never stopped to pick apart someone else's plan/workout but instead just stop to say, "Do you!" or "Nice job!"



Awesome workout friends. Always learning!
Always encouraging!

During the MAJathon, I met up with some of them.  We didn't all run together, and we didn't all force each other to run together, because we are all different paces and on different training plans.  ( I run Daniels; they run Galloway. We even talked about this before the race.)  They all have a zero-drama attitude: we all went at our own pace and were happy just seeing each other before, during and after the race. No one was upset because someone couldn't run with her: one of the ladies had to go to work afterwards; I had to go run another 4 miles. Sometimes we hang out and have breakfast afterwards.  It really just depends. 

I have learned a lot from them - not just about the three sports but about how to be a good sport.

So, in their honor and in that spirit, here were some of my favorite suggestions from the blog on how to encourage more and compete less.  I have received some of these from some of my supporters for the ACS fundraising I'm doing.  There are a few things on here that I actively do, and there are definitely some that I am working on.  But I think they're all wonderful, so I wanted to share.

  

Refuse to speak negatively of other people (publicly or privately).

Send consumers to other competing businesses if they can better meet their individual needs.

Use cards, telephone calls, and emails to offer encouragement to those around you.

Publicly promote other people’s success stories.

Ask how you can come alongside to help.

Share your ideas with others. The free-flow of information will always come back around to you.

Attend local, community events and promote a “teammate mentality.”