Saw this from Freddie DeBoer's blog! An absolutely GREAT story, and very well written. There is definitely something to be said about the grey line of cheating in these parent involved showdowns. I also love the point of people who WIN doing a LOT more than those who just want to compete. And I think you're right, you can only ever really get a sense of that if you yourself have competed around those types of people. I got this sense running at a reasonably high level in cross country and track in high school and then training with some national level women in university (I'm a man so my fitness level more or less matched up with the top female runners on the team). Getting to know them I was struck both by how I was fairly similar to them and yet that they had a desire, drive and commitment to do everything necessary to achieve their goals well beyond my own (I think considerable) dedication to the sport. Once you see that, I think it becomes easier to stop being jealous of others' accomplishments, because you know that a lot more goes into it than even what you imagine. Also as you say there are many drawbacks to the mounting pressure of that sort of success. I do think in the end it is worth it though, the more you put into something the more you can get from it, so long as you're occasionally able to step back and take the lessons from the struggle and the pursuit and everything that comes with it.
Thanks, Spencer -- so glad you you enjoyed it! (and sorry it took me so long to respond).
What you say here has been my exact thought process when it comes to running a marathon. Like.. I only got semi-serious about running in the last four or five years. I really love doing it. I'll run six or eight or ten miles and it's great. But I've had to come to terms with the fact that running a *marathon* just doesn't make sense for me. I don't want to run for four hours. I like running for *me* because *I* like it .. and the fact that (seemingly) every other runner in the world is running marathons doesn't mean that I have to do the same. Anyway. Yes.. the people who are way more dedicated and way more talented at a thing than you are can really get in your head.
I also saw this from Freddie's blog, and very much enjoyed! I relate a lot to what is written here - I'm from Idaho, so going in a plane for the first time to a national debate tournament in Michigan in college was a big deal! (I also did some, shall we say, heavy but focused cheating in my early years, and also participated in several years of National History Day - though I didn't cheat on my NHD projects, I just did badly on them. My friend Logan won the essay category at state one year tho)
I think the final observation is apt - the people at the highest end of any given field are the crazy-smart obsessives. I'm talented enough at some things that I could hit those ranks in some of my fields, if I were willing to put in the work. But you have to put in so. much. work. for so long! The DC Elite are working 50 or 60 hour weeks, for decades, to get where they are. And they can't even smoke weed in some of those jobs.
Thanks, Kim! Yeah I think unless you really grew up far, far away from "the big city," you can't really know what it's like .. what a HUGE deal it is.. to have the opportunity to experience something so different when you're that age.
Saw this from Freddie DeBoer's blog! An absolutely GREAT story, and very well written. There is definitely something to be said about the grey line of cheating in these parent involved showdowns. I also love the point of people who WIN doing a LOT more than those who just want to compete. And I think you're right, you can only ever really get a sense of that if you yourself have competed around those types of people. I got this sense running at a reasonably high level in cross country and track in high school and then training with some national level women in university (I'm a man so my fitness level more or less matched up with the top female runners on the team). Getting to know them I was struck both by how I was fairly similar to them and yet that they had a desire, drive and commitment to do everything necessary to achieve their goals well beyond my own (I think considerable) dedication to the sport. Once you see that, I think it becomes easier to stop being jealous of others' accomplishments, because you know that a lot more goes into it than even what you imagine. Also as you say there are many drawbacks to the mounting pressure of that sort of success. I do think in the end it is worth it though, the more you put into something the more you can get from it, so long as you're occasionally able to step back and take the lessons from the struggle and the pursuit and everything that comes with it.
Thanks, Spencer -- so glad you you enjoyed it! (and sorry it took me so long to respond).
What you say here has been my exact thought process when it comes to running a marathon. Like.. I only got semi-serious about running in the last four or five years. I really love doing it. I'll run six or eight or ten miles and it's great. But I've had to come to terms with the fact that running a *marathon* just doesn't make sense for me. I don't want to run for four hours. I like running for *me* because *I* like it .. and the fact that (seemingly) every other runner in the world is running marathons doesn't mean that I have to do the same. Anyway. Yes.. the people who are way more dedicated and way more talented at a thing than you are can really get in your head.
I also saw this from Freddie's blog, and very much enjoyed! I relate a lot to what is written here - I'm from Idaho, so going in a plane for the first time to a national debate tournament in Michigan in college was a big deal! (I also did some, shall we say, heavy but focused cheating in my early years, and also participated in several years of National History Day - though I didn't cheat on my NHD projects, I just did badly on them. My friend Logan won the essay category at state one year tho)
I think the final observation is apt - the people at the highest end of any given field are the crazy-smart obsessives. I'm talented enough at some things that I could hit those ranks in some of my fields, if I were willing to put in the work. But you have to put in so. much. work. for so long! The DC Elite are working 50 or 60 hour weeks, for decades, to get where they are. And they can't even smoke weed in some of those jobs.
Thanks, Kim! Yeah I think unless you really grew up far, far away from "the big city," you can't really know what it's like .. what a HUGE deal it is.. to have the opportunity to experience something so different when you're that age.