Saturday, October 18, 2008
Running Through Class
Earlier today, as I was standing in one of the most epic lines known to man kind at the Sheraton Hotel, I witnessed two older women waltz right into the ballroom by-passing everyone in the line.
AH I thought, how could they?! We have all been waiting anxiously to pick up our race kits, how DARE these women just head right to the front of the line!
As we all started mumbling about how much longer we need to wait in this everlasting line, I glanced over and saw the women head straight into the expo - walking straight past the registration desk and making a mad dash for the merchandise. Interesting I thought, isn't the purpose of this crowded room, infinitely long line, hot muggy ballroom/expo thing to pick up your race bib and shoe chip?
Quickly, these two women disappear from my short term memory as I make it to the front of the line, announce my bib number and pick up all the goods that come with marathon registrations. As I decide to check out what the expo has to offer - see what free stuff I can come up with - I hear a shriek, "WHERE'S THE SALES RACK!?" I look to my left - nothing, look to my right - nothing, look directly in front of me and low and behold, there they are, the two budging women. But, upon my excellent inspection skills, I see they don't posses any "marathon-identifying" items. Obviously, as I am becoming more and more curious (and of course because I am a starving student) I decide to head over to where the sales clerk has directed them to the "sales rack". We start trying stuff on when I notice the dates. 2007 it says. Okay, whatever, I can deal with last years stuff. I mean, it's the exact same thing as this year's only 50% off.
But then the one woman say's something interesting. She says, "Okay, just remember we can't have anything with 2007 on it. It has to either be non-dated or from this year." Of course I had to chirp in, "Well really, if you look at this years and last years, it's essentially exactly the same." The lady kindly replies, "Yeah, but the looks you get from people when you're walkin' down the street with the "Toronto Good Life Marathon (insert year here)" logo is so much better if it's the year of - not the previous year." The other lady inserts, "yeah totally. I mean just the other day I was wearin' my shirt from last year and someone stopped me and said 'Oh! you're running the marathon this weekend?!' then they saw the 2007 and it was a total buzz kill." Naturally, after a long day my mind wasn't totally functioning so I said, "OH, so you've run this course a few times?" The first lady, half laughing replies "oh no honey, haha, we only come here to get a shirt with the logo on it. I couldn't run to save my life! But walkin down the street with that shirt on, people look at you a whole different way. Like, 'WOAH, you've ran a marathon!' I go from being a lousy TTC worker to a marathon runner in one glance!"
EXCUSE ME?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? This is what I was silently screaming in my head when I heard this. Has this really what our society has come down to?! People belive that in order to be raised to a higher social class they just need to buy a t-shirt and ta-da, you are officially an elite runner? And when did running marathons become such an elitist sport anyways? Doesn't the majority of the population HATE running? I was confused. Confused beyond all reason. I had to leave immediatly...
But of course, not until I won a swanky black jacket that, naturally, had the toronto marathon logo in a place for the world to see. Oh irony.
AH I thought, how could they?! We have all been waiting anxiously to pick up our race kits, how DARE these women just head right to the front of the line!
As we all started mumbling about how much longer we need to wait in this everlasting line, I glanced over and saw the women head straight into the expo - walking straight past the registration desk and making a mad dash for the merchandise. Interesting I thought, isn't the purpose of this crowded room, infinitely long line, hot muggy ballroom/expo thing to pick up your race bib and shoe chip?
Quickly, these two women disappear from my short term memory as I make it to the front of the line, announce my bib number and pick up all the goods that come with marathon registrations. As I decide to check out what the expo has to offer - see what free stuff I can come up with - I hear a shriek, "WHERE'S THE SALES RACK!?" I look to my left - nothing, look to my right - nothing, look directly in front of me and low and behold, there they are, the two budging women. But, upon my excellent inspection skills, I see they don't posses any "marathon-identifying" items. Obviously, as I am becoming more and more curious (and of course because I am a starving student) I decide to head over to where the sales clerk has directed them to the "sales rack". We start trying stuff on when I notice the dates. 2007 it says. Okay, whatever, I can deal with last years stuff. I mean, it's the exact same thing as this year's only 50% off.
But then the one woman say's something interesting. She says, "Okay, just remember we can't have anything with 2007 on it. It has to either be non-dated or from this year." Of course I had to chirp in, "Well really, if you look at this years and last years, it's essentially exactly the same." The lady kindly replies, "Yeah, but the looks you get from people when you're walkin' down the street with the "Toronto Good Life Marathon (insert year here)" logo is so much better if it's the year of - not the previous year." The other lady inserts, "yeah totally. I mean just the other day I was wearin' my shirt from last year and someone stopped me and said 'Oh! you're running the marathon this weekend?!' then they saw the 2007 and it was a total buzz kill." Naturally, after a long day my mind wasn't totally functioning so I said, "OH, so you've run this course a few times?" The first lady, half laughing replies "oh no honey, haha, we only come here to get a shirt with the logo on it. I couldn't run to save my life! But walkin down the street with that shirt on, people look at you a whole different way. Like, 'WOAH, you've ran a marathon!' I go from being a lousy TTC worker to a marathon runner in one glance!"
EXCUSE ME?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? This is what I was silently screaming in my head when I heard this. Has this really what our society has come down to?! People belive that in order to be raised to a higher social class they just need to buy a t-shirt and ta-da, you are officially an elite runner? And when did running marathons become such an elitist sport anyways? Doesn't the majority of the population HATE running? I was confused. Confused beyond all reason. I had to leave immediatly...
But of course, not until I won a swanky black jacket that, naturally, had the toronto marathon logo in a place for the world to see. Oh irony.
# posted by Sophia @ 12:16 AM 
