Fdip166: It’s Not About Courage

This week your goofy little host goes “off the deep end” again with a podcast filled with critical thinking, loud enunciation and a very un-holiday-like disposition. This episode is a statement of my opinion. Not all will agree with that opinion, and all are invited to consider and challenge what I have to say here. I suspect many will consider my premise faulty and my conclusion to be wrong; but this is just MY OPINION, and if I sound angry and passionate in my argument it’s because it bothers me when fellow runners suffer the appeals of a marketing pitch designed to ridicule them without their conscious understanding in an effort to sell books. Just because someone says that it takes courage for you to run your first mile, does not make it so. It does not make noble the action by affixing such terms to explain how you came to be. Terms and words like “indomitable spirit”, “intelligent choice”, “dedication”, “perseverance”, and “commitment” better describe how you became a runner; and credits you with the hard work associated with your effort and success on the road. In this episode I will prove that “it takes dedication to start running” is no longer a hypothesis, it’s a well founded theory. I will show that this is a well established principle created from repeated observation and testing. There are better and more positive ways to inspire and motivate non-runners to take to the road with us than to call them “scared, powerless little misfits”. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that it takes courage to start running. They are offending you, they are appealing to your instinctual desire to be congratulated for doing something noble and brave. You deserve MUCH more…you have earned the right to be credited with rising off the couch of doom not because you were once a cowering, fearful couch potato who overcame some dangerous risk to your life; but because you made a choice…you accepted a challenge to yourself: and that doesn’t take courage fellow runners; that takes dedication. Show Links:http://theextramilepodcast.comhttp://tiree.blogspot.comhttp://www.bluedawgsrunning.blogspot.comFdip Blog of the Week: http://fittalklive.comThe song “You and I” was by Ingrid Michaelsonhttp://www.ingridmichaelson.com