My Two Personalities

A couple of times, while running, I have seen people from work and when I say hi they do not recognize me immediately. They have to think about where they know me from and after some long seconds they finally make the click. I have to keep running so I can’t help them out with their scanning task.

On the other hand, the few times I have seen my running buddies outside the running world, we are always shocked by how gorgeous we all look.

It seems that I have two personalities: My runner one and my work one. I know for sure that any of my colleagues would have a hard time trying to picture me running. I am such a different person when I am at work and I look different as well. I am always very well groomed, everything matches, I smell good (really good), my hair looks nice and clean, and my jewellery is on place as well as my scarf and my boots. I hate getting wet and I always complain when is raining and have no way to cover my hair and my shoes. If I can, I take the elevator to go up one floor. I hate sweating when I am at work, so I avoid any kind of extra effort that it’s not absolutely necessary. Based on this, I can assure that whoever sees me running can’t believe it is the same person.

Now, when I have my runner hat on, I behave different. First of all I look different, I am always wearing black tights, a black long sleeve top, black gloves and a black hat. Nothing fancy, nothing cute, just comfy. My hair is a mess, my face is red, and by the end of the run, my clothes are dirty and all sweaty. I smell bad, like wet grass (maybe because I am vegan?) and if it is raining I am totally wet, including my shoes and of course my hair. I don’t care about running through mud and puddles and I am always trying to get more distance in; I never stop if my watch has not reached the kilometers I am supposed to run. If this means running around the block a couple more times, I will definitely do it.

I have realized that I get enough dirt, sweat, rain and ugliness when I am running, so at work I don’t have to bear with that. Why would I walk up the stairs if that night I am running 10k? Why would I get wet or be happy about it if that night I am going to have to run in the rain for an hour? Why would I like to smell bad if every single night I get a real taste of it? Why would I like to sweat on my work clothes if my work out ones always end up totally damped?

My Animal Lover Note:
"I am a vegan because after much learning and thought about the issue, I have come to see enslaving, exploiting, or intentionally killing an animal as morally equivalent to enslaving, exploiting, or intentionally killing a child. The only difference is one is socially acceptable and the other is socially unacceptable That may sound shocking or "extreme" to some people, but it is only because we are so acculturated to devalue sentient nonhuman beings to the status of "things". What is truly extreme is the violence of intentionally killing about 56 billion *land* animals annually globally for unnecessary food preferences alone. Unless you consider nonviolence and justice to be "extreme", veganism is not extreme. " ~
(author of www.uvearchives.wordpress.com)