David said something in his most recent post that got me thinking. He was talking about training for the triathlons this summer, and implied that he could pretty much beat me no matter what. The reason that kind of annoyed me is because it's true! Last year he hardly ran at all to train, and I don't think he went swimming once. I, on the other hand, training almost every day all summer long, but he still beat me in every section of the race.
My whole family is very athletic. David has played soccer his whole life, and is now an avid biker. Andy is pretty much amazing at every sport he plays, even if he doesn't like it. His current passion is golf. My sisters are both great at volleyball. Joni played varsity basketball and volleyball since her freshman year of high school!
Then there's me. I was in dance when I was little, but I quite when I was still in elementary school. I did gymnastics in junior high and loved it, but I was never that great at it. I played soccer in high school, but I basically just filled up space. I am pretty unathletic. One time when we were at a Geology department party for my mom's work, all of the kids were playing sand volleyball. It was a pretty easygoing game, and even the elementary school kids were playing. I guess I was the embarrassment of our team, because one little girl told me, "You have to at least try!" Needless to say I left the team.
The only thing I feel somewhat successful at is running. I couldn't even run a mile in high school, but now I usually run 4-6 miles at a time. I can run far, but I'm not fast at all. David, on the other hand, can go more than a year without running, and beat me in a 3 mile race. How depressing.
I usually don't mind too much. I still love running, and there are other things I am good at. I am great at games like Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit, and I am completely undefeated at MadGab, but that just means that no one wants to play that game with me because they'll get annoyed.
They would rather just make fun of me while I embarrass myself playing Lightning or PingPong. How nice.
(By the way, Tyler wants me to say that he doesn't think I'm not athletic. What a nice husband!)
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5 comments:
Okay Lisa,
You've gotta remember just a few things here.
1. First of all, David only beat by what, ten minutes? That's nothing! He's totally rubbing in as I'm sure you're aware.
2. I am also non athletic. As much as I'd love to be good at it, like you describe- I just can't get the hang of it. Someone at a music camp told me something while we were playing Ulitmate Frisbee: "Emily, E is for Effort" Uhh! I remember being so mad I just wanted to leave the feild right then and there, but I couldn't.
3. You are great at working out. It amazes me that you can stay at the gym for hours on end! I've had it after 30 minutes.
4. You are very fun to play games with. I actually really miss that. We never seem to be at your moms house at the same times anymore and if we are, it is never long enough to play a game. Games are just not the same without you. You're really fun to play with
(even if you do kick butt)
So, I want you to go over to your hubby and give him a big hug cause not only is he nice, he's right!
Have a good one, Emily
I always thought you were pretty good at walking. On a sidewalk, in a straight line, there's no one better!
I feel your pain, Lisa. Really I do. I come from a totally non-athletic family. Your siblings all get their athleticism from their dad not their mom. That's for sure. I hope you continue to do those physical things that you love. Forget the rest and don't feel pressure from anyone to keep up. After all, even I beat Andy at ping pong once in a big big while. That's only cause he makes me play every day, and I enjoy doing that with him. Should we talk about who's good at music now?
First off, I was really starting to wonder who this "creativity central" person was. I was like, "wow, they sure to like to comment on everything!" The ping pong gave it away.
So I feel bad about my last comment. I was just making a joke.
To make you feel better, your blog got me thinking about a psychologist back in the 80s who came up with a theroy of multiple intelligences. Basicly, he said that each person has several different IQs relating to different aspects of a person. What you are describing is the kinesthetic aspect, and it's only one out of 7-8 others. I think the other ones are something like: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Ok, I couldn't remember very many, so I just looked it up. I know there have been different people who came up with some new ones, spiritual being one.
The sad thing is that allot of people put more stock in certain ones like kinesthetic (which is why pro athletes get paid so much, and pro musicians eat top ramen).
So you should know what you are naturally good at, and you have two choices. You can focus on your strengths and get really good at one type of thing. You could also focus on your weaknesses and become more well rounded. I personally would recomend doing some of both. Sorry for the long post.
David can be serious? Will wonders never cease.
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