Mean Girls

Good day Divas et al,

If you have been following this blog regularly (thank you by the way!),  I have to apologize for the lack of posts lately.  I had a serious case of writers' block.  Now, this was a shock to me as I am not even a writer so I just figured I would be immune from this affliction.

A big shout out to Natalie for giving me today's topic and all I can say is keep them coming!

Mean Girls - you know them - maybe you are one of them - they are out there.  Having survived high school and a few all-female organizations (brownies, girl guides,  and a brief stint in a sorority), I really thought I had surpassed the need to even think about this subset of the fairer sex.  Part of the reason I love sport is that a lot of the crap (soft word) we deal with as young women is avoided by training hard, racing hard and simply being kick-ass females!

Not the case I am afraid.  I have few stories about some scary ladies who can be described as nothing as than a mean girl.  One of my encounters with a mean chick occurred near the beginning of my tri career (ha!  career, the word is almost laughable!).  I was competing as an age grouper in an ITU race.  We were grouped by our age category and corralled awaiting our wave start time.  There were about 75 athletes and you could hear a pin drop. . . .we were all very nervous.  I decided that someone needed to break the tension so in my own quiet, unassuming way (stop giggling), I started wishing the ladies around me luck. "Good Luck", Good Luck to You", "Have fun out there" could be heard not just from me but several of the ladies around me.

Seems positivity is contagious.

Before the rest of the story is revealed, I need to pause to point out that racing is as much psychological as it is physical.  So much of what we battle as athletes isn't questioning our training, it is overcoming the inner demons.  Each person has their own way of doing this and part of getting the most out of your performance is knowing yourself and what you need physically and psychologically.

Ok on with the anecdote.

As I was wishing ladies well, one woman came up to me and I swear she was about 2 inches (5 cm) from my face.  "Norma, STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!"  Clearly, this gal was wound up a bit tight.  As I welled up with tears, a few women tried to prop me up.  Now, granted I can be quite annoying to some people especially if you are having a bad day/race.  I still see this women from time to time at races and I have to say, she continues to scare the daylights out of me.

I have a few more instances of this type of behaviour from women and it always surprises me.  I try to look at it from their point of view.  I am not always upbeat or jovial but I make the effort to not affect anyone else by my nastiness.

Most of the time, I think these women are threatened by something or someone and they feel the need to lash out.  If we are witness to this and do nothing, I feel that we are like the bystanders in a bullying situation.  We need to stick together and be part of the sisterhood (love that word).  We can't be those women who eat their young.  Sure we compete in races but I would like to believe that we compete with ourselves and not each other.  Instead of ripping each other apart, look around and find ways to lift another sister up!

Keep in mind what Nelson Mandella said about the Olympics and the Olympic movement. . . .I am paraphrasing:

"We are competitors for only one moment in a race but we are compatriots for all the rest of our days."

Be supportive. . . be understanding. . . be the sisterhood :)