I Know You Are, but What Am I? (aka How about some Drama with Your Running Blog)

Name calling.
Back stabbing.
Humiliation.

Lots of ugly, ugly words.

Sticks and stones. 

I was recently told in an email "Get off facebook and act your age".  What?  Really?  This coming from someone that is ALSO on facebook, just a few years younger than I, playing mafia wars and posting mean comments and innuendos on not only MY wall, but others?  OK.  And Steve, if you're reading this, sorry, but its true. 

Hello Kettle, I'm Black.

So anywaaaaaaaaaaaay...a couple of weeks ago I took a proud picture of myself wearing my cute new technical No Meat Athlete shirt and posted it as my profile picture on Facebook.  A few people made snide remarks, and a few people wanted to know where I got it.  Mostly there was nothing said at all.

Fast forward to one day last week. 

One morning after arriving at work, I was craaaaaaaaaaaving not only a breakfast taco but one with sausage.  I have ALWAYS maintained that if my body wants something, I will wait a bit to see if it subsides but if it doesnt then I am going to give it what it wants. 

I posted my 'surrender' on Facebook and boy let me tell you...I got it from SS...he thought that was SO funny and SO hypocritical that, yet again, the only time he comments is when he wants to mock, point out, or make an argument about something I BELIEVE in, am PASSIONATE about...from eating vegetarian to the food banks that are bare, to the homeless/needy...etc.  There are a lot of things I am quite passionate about.

This was not the first time I have had comments on the subject...snide remarks such as 'eat a hamburger, it'll make you faster' for example...

This time though, I was done.  Someone that I once looked up to, admired, trusted...but yet had always not quite made me feel like much of a person...he had indeed been an ear from time to time, but even then I still always felt not quite right...like I was less of a person.  According to him I am a person who needs to be 'dealt with kid gloves'...

I unfriended him on Facebook.

Then I find out he's making comments on another friends Facebook on a random picture that has NOTHING to do with me...about "i guess thats what happens when No Meat Athletes get caught eating a hamburger'.

Huh? 

To me this implied that I had been caught red-handed in some back alley eating a hamburger as if it had been a crackpipe loaded up and ready to go....Mean emails went back and forth...

But then I started to wonder...was I worthy of that shirt?  Because sometimes I give in to my body's needs?  I posed this question to No Meat Athlete himself...

Here is the last sentence of that conversation with him:  am i bad for giving in to my bodys cravings sometimes????? and does that mean i am not worthy to wear the shirt????

Here is a response I received: 
Hey Junie,

I think there is a big difference in both health and environmental effects in say, eating sausage once a month, compared to eating it everyday with breakfast, then having a turkey sandwich for lunch, and then pork tenderloin for dinner.

I started off this post by saying I made the decision to eat less meat. There are vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians, pescetarians and everything in between— and they all have their own reasons for doing so, whether compelled by race times, general health, finances, environmental concerns, or just straight up compassion.

I personally believe that the average American diet includes way too much meat, and that the fact that there is a demand for meat to be so cheap and convenient has a terrible effect on the treatment of animals and environmental conditions at factory farms.
I believe meat should be expensive, because to feed animals correctly and raise them ethically involves a lot of time and money. I personally am willing to occasionally eat this kind of meat, and do so infrequently enough that feel what I am doing is in check with the pace animals are raised and with what I can actually afford.

There is a cool restaurant where I live that lists the local farms that their meat dishes come from, and I appreciate that kind of awareness and accountability. At the same time, I do not like how I feel physically after eating meat so there is not too much motivation to order the steak when there are marvelous couscous salads around.

As you can see from the Pro-Veggie or Anti-Meat Post, there are just as many people who agree and disagree with this, and you are bound to run into them as you begin making active choices about your food.

You just need to examine which issues are important to you, and then align your actions with your values.

I think you should definitely continue wearing your shirt, because it represents a community of people (in which you belong) who are willing to be conscious eaters and it also raises awareness that there are alternative ways to fuel your body and still have successful athletic training.

Christine

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Thank you Christine for saying everything I think and feel and then some...my words in my head are the same but they don't always translate to the page that way...especially when I feel 'attacked'.