An Escaped Christmas Tree

During a predawn run, another runner greeted me, “You look like an escaped Christmas Tree!” 

It was true. Thanks to my “Noxgear Tracer360”  multicolored, illuminated vest and headlamp, I was lit up like a Christmas tree!

December is chock full of holidays that are associated with light. Here are just a few:

Dec. 8: Rohatsu (Bodhi Day) — Buddhist

This holiday celebrates the historical Buddha’s decision and vow to sit under the Bodhi tree until he reached spiritual enlightenment.

Dec. 10 to 18: Hanukkah — Judaism

This is the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, which celebrates the Maccabean revolt in Egypt. Eight candles are lit with a menorah to honor the holiday.

Dec. 21: Solstice/Yule — Wicca/Pagan

Yule, otherwise known as the Winter Solstice, marks the longest night of the year. Since the night hours will only get shorter after that point, it is the symbolic end of the cold and dark winter and the return of light.

Dec. 25: Christmas — Christian

Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s when Christians celebrate God’s love for the world through the birth of the Christ child: Jesus, the Light of the World.

Dec. 26 – Jan. 1: Kwanzaa – African American and Pan-African

Created by Maulana Karenga, Kwanzza is based on African harvest festival traditions. Each day of the celebration is dedicated to one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa and families come together each day to light a candle in honor of that day’s principle. 

Neptune Beach, Florida Town Center

Throughout December, I really enjoy all the festive, creative lighting – homes decorated with colored lights, inflatable characters and our local Deck the Chairs displays.

A fellow volunteer and I were talking about our love of Christmas lights when she said, “It upsets me when people say, ‘Happy Holidays.’ I always correct them by saying, “It's Merry Christmas.” Another volunteer chimed in, “I do, too. I know they don’t want us to say it, but I do.”

Lighten up!   Christmas is a federal holiday, the only federal holiday that honors a specific religion - Christianity. No one, except yourself, is stopping you from saying “Merry Christmas,” just like no one stops you from saying, “Happy Fourth of July” or “Thank you for your service” on Veterans' Day. Congress made Christmas a federal holiday. “They” will not prohibit you from saying. “Merry Christmas!”

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech...”The First Amendment is not meant to promote one religion over any other, everyone in the United States has the right to practice their own religion, or no religion at all. Everyone in the United States also has the right to observe their own holidays and say the holiday greeting of their choice.

So why be upset if someone, usually a store clerk, says, “Happy Holidays?” Why insist that everyone use your preferred, December greeting? My preferred December greeting is “Merry Christmas,” but if someone greets me first with another December holiday greeting like, “Happy Holidays!” I respond, “Happy Holidays to you, too!” 

Lighten up! Perhaps that person who says, “Happy Holidays!” is simply acknowledging the fact that Christmas isn’t the only December holiday and wants you to enjoy your holiday, whatever it may be.

How did I respond to the runner's greeting - “You look like an escaped Christmas Tree!”?

Simple, I borrowed a line from Clark Griswold, “I hope this adds to your enjoyment of the holidays.”

The runner laughed and called over his shoulder, “Namaste!”

Perfect!

 

 

It Runs in the Family?

My paternal grandfather, Evar Swanson, was an outstanding athlete. After graduating from DeKalb (Illinois) High School, Evar attended Lombard College in Galesburg, Illinois where he was an excellent student-athlete. He won two scholarships and lettered each year in baseball, basketball, football, and track. He set school records in the 100 and 220-yard dashes. In 1923, Evar ran the 100 yard dash in 9.8 seconds, just 2/10th of a second off the world record. He played all five positions in basketball and, despite never playing football in high school, he scored 109 points for the Lombard College team in 1921. In Evar’s first three seasons, Lombard’s only loss was to Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame and the “Four Horsemen.”

After college, Evar began his professional baseball career in 1924 with the Mississippi Valley League, Moline (Illinois) Plowboys. He then moved to the prestigious Pacific Coast League (PCL), 1925-1928. Next, he played two years for the Cincinnati Reds. Then, from 1931 to 1932, he played for the Columbus (Ohio) Red Birds. He finished his baseball career with the Chicago White Sox (1932-1934).

He also played professional football with the Milwaukee Badgers; the Chicago Cardinals; and a team formed by Jim Thorpe, the Rock Island (Illinois) Independents. The latter team played an exhibition game at the close of the 1925 season against the Chicago Bears in which Evar ran 50 yards for a touchdown and kicked the extra point for a 7-6 win over the Bears.

What kind of an athlete was he? - FAST! Evar led the PCL in steals in 1926 and again in 1928. In 1929 he once again displayed his speed by stealing 33 bases while playing for the Cincinnati Reds.

Evar’s speed is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest base runner. He proved how fast he was on September 15, 1929, between games of a doubleheader between the Boston Braves and Cincinnati Reds. Then a rookie outfielder with the Reds, Evar was chosen to compete with a few other players in a race around the bases – in full uniform. He won the contest, timed by the Amateur Athletic Union officials, circling the bases in an amazing 13.3 seconds.

I wish I could say that Evar’s speed runs in the family, and that I was the lucky recipient of the “speed gene.” Many physical traits run in families, like eye color; skin tone; hairline shape; and the percentage of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers. Fast twitch muscle fibers produce the same amount of force for each contraction as slow twitch muscle fibers, but they get their name because they can fire far more rapidly - making them better for explosive, fast and forceful athletics. Most people are born with 50% slow twitch muscle fibers and 50% fast twitch muscle fibers.

Bengt Saltin, a professor of human physiology at the University of Copenhagen's Muscle Research Centre in Denmark, said “If you don't have at least 70 to 80 percent fast twitch muscle fibers, I'd say it's unlikely you could be among the world's top sprinters." Elite runners, like Evar, are born with at least 70 to 80% fast twitch muscle fibers. And, while training and practice can obviously improve muscle performance, Dr. Saltin’s research suggests slow twitch fibers cannot be converted into fast twitch, meaning that the percentage of fast twitch fibers an athlete has is what their genes gave them.

1934 - My Dad and Grandpa

But any gene-centered explanation for athletic success dismisses the importance of a whole host of psycho-social and cultural factors that are likely to be major contributors to success. Evar would never have been successful if he simply sat on the sidelines. He was motivated to participate in sports in order to go to college on scholarships.  There he was encouraged and cheered on by people around him, and then, after college, he challenged himself to be the best athlete he could be by competing in professional sports. His behavior was crucial to his success.

Likewise, you don’t become a runner by sitting on the sidelines. Your ability to run the best you can isn’t decipherable from your DNA; it waits to be realized through your behavior – through the simple act of running. I did NOT inherit my grandfather’s “speed gene,” I probably have a low percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers. I am an old lady, slowpoke runner but, like Evar, I strive to be the best runner I can be by simply running - regardless of my genetics, age, or what others think of my lack of speed.  

I am a runner, as s-l-o-w as my grandfather was fast. So in a sense, I guess being a runner does “run in the family.”

Evar accomplished all his athletic feats way before I was born. As a child, I knew my grandpa had played baseball but I fondly remember visiting the Galesburg Post Office where he worked as the Postmaster. He had a “giant” desk with lots of cubbyholes. Most notably, I remember my grandpa for his bear hugs and his homemade peach ice cream. It wasn’t until after his death, and as an adult, did I learn the full extent of his athletic achievements. I am in awe.

My grandpa died on July 17, 1973.  Hilt Sprunger, a former Secretary of the Illinois High School Athletic Association, noted his passing - “Evar Swanson was probably the state’s greatest all-time athlete. Not only was he a tremendous competitor, but he was also in every sense, a gentleman.” - and my grandpa, a runner extraordinaire.

"I always enjoyed everything I did." - Evar Swanson

Galesburg Register-Mail, June 27, 1972

Running into the Past

 

I grew up in Moline, Illinois which was “The Farm Implement Capital of the Word.” John Deere has its headquarters and factories in my hometown. Living in “The Land of Lincoln” meant learning about our famous President and the Civil War. I think I was in the fourth grade when I first learned our country had slaves. Up until that time, I thought our country was perfect. “Why did our country have slaves?” I asked my teacher.

She replied, “Well, people were different back then.” Which did not answer my question, “WHY?” Our class had learned earlier that our nation was founded for “freedom” and “liberty.” We learned about the Declaration of Independence - “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...” My fourth-grade brain couldn’t understand why those words did not apply to slaves.

I didn’t ask the question again. I sensed that the teacher was not interested in, nor comfortable with, my question. Yet, as a child, I wanted to understand why some people were enslaved and treated horribly while others were not. Once I asked my mother why the Nazis murdered millions of people. Her response, “Because they were Jews.” So I asked, “Why Jews and not Lutherans?” Her exasperated response, “Just because. Now stop asking questions!”

I am sure I was, and still am, a “pest” asking questions no one wants to answer. I eventually learned not to ask them … out loud. I often heard, and still hear, the phrase,“It’s in the past. Who cares? Move on.” Today I would have been called a “woke” child.

By the time I was in high school, I was wide awake. I graduated with 8 semesters of “social studies.” My favorite classes were “American Problems” and “Four Societies” – a study of American; Chinese (communist); South African (apartheid); and Indian (caste) societies. Often our class discussions became intense and uncomfortable. Thankfully, my teachers encouraged civility, inquiry, and would often challenge us with a simple question, “How do you know that?” These classes (plus home ec, driver’s ed and civics), had a positive impact upon my life. I am thankful for my public school education.

Now, as an amateur genealogist, I explore “social studies” through family histories. I have come across many facts from a family’s past that make people uncomfortable. An ancestor who was a convicted criminal; parents or grandparents who “had to” get married; or ancestors who abandoned their families – all evidence of human flaws and mistakes. Throughout history people have been making these types of individual choices regardless of the world events around them.

Often awareness of a “wayward” ancestor leads to a desire to exclude that ancestor from your family tree; deny you are related; or simply minimize your ancestor’s choices by saying, “Well, people were different back then.” Basically you want to run away from the past because you are fearful of what it might say about who you are now.

Recently my husband asked me to research his genealogy. A relative had told him that their ancestors owned slaves. To be sure, many Americans still do not like to confront slavery, - “Well, people were different back then.” or “It’s in the past. Who cares? Move on.” - Those are responses of people who want to run away from history. The fact is slavery was a societal institution, enshrined in the pre-Civil War Constitution, and, even after the 13^th. 14^th. And 15^th. Amendments were added to our Constitution, still has societal consequences today (example: Black Lives Matter). To his credit, my husband wanted to run toward history instead of away from it.

His ancestors did own slaves. They are considered “First Settlers of Virginia” and had head rights to vast tracts of land. Who was going to work that land? English settlers?

English immigration did not meet the demands of working the large tracts of land in the Virginia colony and indenture contracts were not popular with English immigrants. Slavery then became the dominant mode of operation for Virginia planters and, eventually, the backbone of the colonial economy.

First, they enslaved Native Americans.

 By 1649, the enslavement of Native Americans in Colonial English households and the stealing of Native American children for the slave market was a common means to obtain a cheap supply of labor. A 1670 statue specified that slaves taken into Virginia by ship (meaning Africans) would be slaves for life while people taken into slavery on the land (meaning Native Americans) would be slaves for a set number of years – adults for 12 years and children until 30 years of age.

I also researched his ancestors’ wills. They inherited other people as property. Unborn children were enslaved before birth, and upon their birth they were taken away from their mothers to become the property of another person. This is not “critical race theory,” this is history!

The last slaves owned by Peter, my husband’s ancestor, were recorded on the 1820 United States Census. Peter owned two slaves, a woman and a young girl, while living in Chesterfield, Virginia. By the 1830 Census, he was no longer a slave owner. Peter could have sold his slaves; allowed the woman to hire herself out to earn the money necessary to purchase their freedom through manumission; or he could have emancipated them. Unfortunately, I was unable to determine what happened to the woman and young girl he enslaved.

If learning about the history of slavery makes you feel uncomfortable, good. My first mile of a run feels like crap, but I keep going. Sure, I could avoid running altogether so I won’t ever “feel bad.” Or I could deny or minimize the fact that running sometimes feels uncomfortable. However, the benefits of running far exceed the occasional, uncomfortable feelings. Likewise learning about the past may feel uncomfortable at first, but the benefits of an educated citizenry far exceed the "comfort" of ignorance.

Running away from the past involves fear. There is no direction, you just want to get “away.” You are motivated by an emotional need to avoid, deny, or minimize. While you can run away from danger, you can’t escape the past. My husband’s ancestors, and maybe even yours, enslaved people. On the other hand, my ancestors, and maybe even yours, did NOT enslave people. Either way, regardless of whether or not your ancestors were involved in slavery, our whole country was and still is involved!

Running into the past involves courage. It is directional - into history. You are motivated by an intellectual need to gain knowledge and understanding. You want to discover information and explore the ramifications of our ancestor’s choices. You want to learn!

Take a step back into the past, learn about our history … all of it, “good” and “bad!” The mistakes and human failings of the past are still relevant today. They educate and motivate us to fully realize these words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

 

I am Boring!

At our wedding 39 years ago, someone said, “Your wedding is boring!”

It was true. We wanted to get married but didn’t have much money for a wedding, yet we felt obligated to do something. So we had a small church wedding followed by cake and punch in the church fellowship hall/gym. That’s right – it wasn’t a “destination," no band performed, no dancing, no meal, no open bar, and certainly no choreographed processional.

39 years later … I am still boring …

Recently someone tried to convince me that standing on a croquet court and occasionally tapping a wooden ball with a mallet, was “exercise.” I told her that I run and walk to which she exclaimed, “Oh my God! You are so boring!”

Out of spite, I was tempted to divulge the minutiae of my runs - heart rate, pace, mileage, race performances, favorite routes, etc. But I didn’t. Instead I told myself, “Be nice!”

So I simply smiled. She looked at me and said, with great vigor, “Well, I SWEAT when I play croquet!”

We live in Florida. You sweat while sitting on a shaded porch, under a fan, drinking ice tea. I smiled again and asked “How are your grandkids?” I think that was a nice, boring thing for me to do.

This proves it ... I am really, really boring!

A boring life like mine that can make you feel so much better about your own life. My boring life will remind you that your life is probably much more exciting than you realize, especially when you compare it with mine.

I haven’t been to a bar or restaurant since March 2020. We don’t even order out. My Home Ec teachers would be so proud of how I reawakened my culinary spirit. Plus, there is always a vegetarian “option” in my home and it never includes zucchini, okra, nor squash. In fact, all the options at “my restaurant” are vegetarian. I never have to “make do” with a wilted side salad or an order of greasy french fries.

Some people have told me that they need the “social stimulation” of a restaurant setting. Not me. For over a year now, my favorite Publix checker, Bonnie, and I have had the most stimulating, mask-muffled conversations. Bonnie always comments on my purchases - “Is this ginger ale any good?” - “Have you tried wasabi peas?” - “Save that jar. You can make into a terrarium.”

This ginger ale is EXCITING!  Try it.

I have no desire to go on a cruise. I like flying but I love boring flights full of boring people who follow the directions of flight attendants. On my next flight, which will probably be in 2022 (I hope!), a big, boring roll of duct tape is going in my carry on. As I board the aircraft I will show it to the flight attendants so they know I am willing to “get involved” and do my part to ensure we have a safe, boring, flight. If anyone decides they need to add some “excitement” at 35,000 feet - rrrrriiiiippppp!

Well, at least my daydreams are exciting!

Don't leave home without this "mummy maker."

I use Interlibrary Loan. How else can I get my hands on a 1948 copy of Copsford by Walter Murray? I read 3 books concurrently: 1 print, 1 e Book, and 1 audio book. My favorite social activity is my monthly book club meeting. We sit in a screened porch, wearing our handmade, 3-layer masks and discuss international fiction. We are bonafide bibliophiles! Even boring people have “tribes.”

I have never been to Disney World and I really don’t want to go there. Instead I “entertain” myself for free by volunteering ... at a local history museum ... transcribing National Archive records ... creating hundreds of children’s craft packets for Train Day. If you love Disney, go for it! Florida’s economy depends on you!

I have not watched a single episode of Game of Thrones nor Downton Abbey. When my dental hygienist starts to talk about her favorite episodes, I have nothing to say – and I can’t say anything anyway - but I try to look interested. I watch boring shows. I am on season 19 of the classic Time Team ... and I watch C-Span 1,2, and 3. I don’t think my dental hygienist has watched any of these shows. That’s good since I might try to comment on a favorite episode and end up with a polished tongue!

Snooze Alert! I enjoy genealogical research. I don’t just do the research, I create PowerPoint presentations for our family happy hours. And then, hang onto your hats, I convert those slides into narrated YouTube videos to share with my siblings. Are you still awake?

I use a “safe driver” app so I can get a discount on my auto insurance. Enough said.

While others are bemoaning how long it is taking to “get back to normal,” I delve deeper into the wonders of my boring life - and I thank God that I am not sitting on a plane while an impatient person is slugging it out with a flight attendant!

I may be boring but I am never bored. Nor am I unhappy because life has changed due to the pandemic. I can handle change. Plus, I agree with Bill Bryson: “The way I see it, there are three reasons never to be unhappy. First, you were born. This in itself is a remarkable achievement. Second, you are alive. For the tiniest moment in the span of eternity you have the miraculous privilege to exist. Third, you have plenty to eat and 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree' will never be number one again.”

Don’t you feel better now! Enjoy your wonderful, exciting life!

A Good Day for Cancer?!

That spring day in 2007, when I first heard the word “carcinoma,”was memorable. Not just because of the diagnosis, but because of what happened after my appointment at Johns Hopkins. As I drove through Baltimore on my way home to Leesburg, Virginia, I came upon a horrible car accident. As the police directed me around the crash, paramedics were placing a sheet over the driver’s side of a mangled car. Someone was not going home.

“Holy crap!” I thought, “That could me. At least with cancer I still have a chance.”

Then I remembered reading something that my running guru, Dr. George Sheehan, wrote about his cancer diagnosis. He was diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer. His son, an endocrinologist, tried to reassure him, “People with prostate cancer usually die of something else.”

What his son said makes sense. Older people have other risks – heart disease from smoking, weakened blood vessels from untreated high blood pressure, diabetes from obesity. Many people die from heart attacks, strokes, and complications from diabetes.

But George decided right then and there: “I might die of prostate cancer, but I was certainly not going to die of anything else.” *

Likewise, I told myself, “I might die of breast cancer, but I certainly wasn’t going to die of anything else. What I can control, I will control.”

I chose the Sheehan approach. I kept running, had surgery, and worked with my medical team to help my body maintain an optimal state of health. Cancer was going to have to look elsewhere for help. I went about making myself the best body possible.

Was this a cure? No way. The idea of a cure leads many people to assume they are immortal, that they will live forever. Most people assume this. That’s why they smoke, don’t wear seat belts, skip a helmet while riding a bike, or drive after drinking a couple jumbo margaritas. Everyone thinks they are an exception, “It won’t happen to me. Death is a fact of life, but not in my life.”

listennotes.com

Twelve years after my surgery … I had an MRI which indicated one of my lymph nodes was “suspicious.” It could have been caused by anything, a cold, seasonal allergies or … “carcinoma.” My doctor suggested waiting a couple months and then repeating the MRI to see if there was any change. I agreed.

Then COVID came into our lives. On a spring day in 2020, my doctor called to cancel my repeat MRI. Mayo Clinic was canceling all procedures except for the most urgent and dire cases due to the COVID pandemic. “To be honest,” she said, “Your risk of death from COVID is much greater than from cancer. We will reschedule once we get a handle on this virus and can control its spread.”

“How can I control my risk?” I asked her.

She answered, “Wear a mask, avoid groups of people – especially indoors, wash your hands, and continue exercising outdoors!”

Once again, I reminded myself, “What I can control, I will control.”

carrienet.com

The word “carcinoma” is not a word anyone wants to hear. Many people describe the day of their cancer diagnosis as the worst day of their life. No one would choose to have cancer, nor to have their life put at risk. But if cancer or COVID or any other possibly life-threatening disease enters your life, remind yourself that you do have control of your response to the disease:

• Will you accept the possibility that you might die or will you avoid thinking about that possibility and deny it exists?

• Will you embrace your risk with a determination to exercise control over what you can control or will you downplay the importance of your life choices and decide to “just let what’s going to happen, happen?”

• Will you actively engage with your doctors or will you ignore their advice because you think you “know better?”

Eventually I received both a mammogram and an MRI. The results were better than I expected, BI-RADS 1, meaning the image was “normal” and there is no evidence of a lesion or mass. This was good news as there is no obvious sign of cancer at the present time. So maybe I don’t need to have any more imaging studies? Oh, heck, no! I am in control of my appointments and my response is to continue with the scheduled MRIs as my doctor has advised me. Who knows what the results of my future MRIs or mammograms will be? No one. My best hope thirteen years ago was, and still is today, early detection. There is no vaccine to prevent hospitalization or death from breast cancer. The risk will always be present. It’s always there, sitting just outside the door. 

The word “carcinoma” may once again enter my life even though it appears I am “in the clear” – for now. I am aware of life’s fragility in a way I wasn’t before that memorable, “carcinoma” day. I control what I can by striving to take care of myself - my one, precious body and encourage others to do the same. Each morning I wake up excited, eager for what the day will bring. Every day is a “good” day when I simply reflect on the fact that I am still here.

* Sheehan, A. (2013). The essential Sheehan: a life time of running wisdom from the legendary Dr. George Sheehan. Rodale Books.

That's Not Fair!

 

“That’s not fair!” 

“Yes, it is she broke the rules!”

We have been hearing those phrases a lot lately in the wake of the suspension and banning of several Olympic athletes. In fact, there is a list 15 pages long of banned athletes. Are all the suspensions and bans fair?

thesource.com

Sha’Carri Richardson won’t participate in the Olympics in the 100-meter race or the 4×100 relay. She was suspended for testing positive for a chemical found in marijuana. She smoked some marijuana after hearing of the death of her biological mother.

“Rules are rules,” and it appears Sha’Carri understands that. To her credit she did not give an excuse (blame someone or something else) for her bad choice but she did give a reason (explained her choice).

“I want to take responsibility for my actions. I know what I did. I know what I'm supposed to do. I know what I'm allowed not to do, and I still made that decision.” - Sha’Carri Richardson 1

Marijuana does not enhance athletic performance. 2 So why the prohibition? Who is being “cheated” in this situation? 

 

 

Then there’s Caster Semenya, who was banned from running 400 - 1500 meter events in the 2021 Olympics because she did not meet hormone requirements. Caster is an intersex cisgender woman - her birth certificate says “female,” she was raised as a girl, but she has an XY chromosome. To compete again in her 2012 and 2016 Gold Medal event, the 800 meter, she was told that she would have to take testosterone suppressants, which she refused to do. 3

 

Obviously genetics and physical characteristics play a role in athletic ability. Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Michael Phelps has a lung capacity that is twice that of a normal man. 4 Clearly, this gives him a competitive advantage, but is it unfair? Was he required to remove one of his lungs to “level the playing field” for the other swimmers? Where do we draw the line?

runnersworld.com

“God made me the way I am, and I accept myself. I am who I am, and I'm proud of myself.” - Caster Semenya 5

In Caster’s case, she was penalized for something she had no control over, how she was born. She did not create her own body. Yet, she accepts her body, embraces it by being physically fit and active, and she addresses her situation in a way that honors her moral values - by declining to chemically alter her body. Is it fair to penalize her for how she was born or her choice NOT to ingest chemicals?

“But,” you might ask, "Isn’t it unfair to the other runners since Caster has a naturally higher level of testosterone?” Here is what Ajee Wilson, USA’s best 800 meter runner, has to say about Caster and “fairness.”

Throughout her career she ran in the shadow of Caster. Caster always won and Ajee consistently came in second. Once, after coming in second, again, Ajee was asked by a reporter, “Do you think it is good for the sport if Caster is allowed to run?’

“Absolutely, I think she should be allowed to run,” answered Ajee

Another reporter asked a slightly different variation of the same question, to which Ajee, losing patience, replied, “I think everyone should be allowed to participate. I definitely think Caster should be allowed to to do what she loves.”

Then came, what I think is the most important question, “Do you think having her in the race helped push you?”

Ajee smiled and replied, “Absolutely!”

“BINGO! The competitor in Ajee wanted Castor in the big races because the ultrarealist in Ajee cared more about getting the very most out of herself than about winning. And she was right to believe she was a better runner with Caster to vie against than without her.” 6

 

The reporters' questions and Ajee’s responses illustrate the two competing notions in sports that make the fairness debate so troublesome. First is the idea that the point of sports is the outcome — who wins and who loses. Winning is a fundamental part of sports competitions. Fans want to watch the best athletes perform. Sport competitions are BIG business. Everyone loves a winner and that’s why we have rules and everyone agrees to the same set of rules – in an attempt to create “fairness.”

The second notion is about “the journey” - everything leading up to the competition. Simply having the opportunity to train and compete creates “fairness.” Even recreational runners know that in order to better your performance you need to train no matter what genetics or physical characteristics you possess. The time, energy, and effort athletes must put in before a competition are worthy of our admiration. Putting worth your best effort is the most important aspect of sports, regardless of the outcome. 7

The tension exists, then, between whether we think sports are about the outcome ... or the journey - about winning ... or putting forth your best effort - about an individual achievement ... or a societal good. “Fairness” exists somewhere along this spectrum.

Finally, there was a time when "fairness" meant women could not run marathons, people with disabilities were excluded from sports, and professional sport teams were segregated. Now we are in a particular cultural moment which is redefining “fairness.” I have a feeling that rules will change and our concept of fairness will be reworked, once again. 

 

1. https://sandrarose.com/2021/07/shacarri-richardson-apologizes-for-disappointing-her-fans-following-positive-drug-test/

2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28392338/

3. https://yr.media/sports/olympics-black-athletes-barred-sha-carri-brianna-mboma-maslingi-caster-semenya-kierra-frazier/

4. https://www.biography.com/news/michael-phelp-perfect-body-swimming

5. https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/caster-semenya-quotes

6. Fitzgerald, M. (2021). Comeback quotient: mastering mental fitness for sport and life. Aurum Press.

7. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22423132/anti-transgender-bills-women-sports-fairness