Wildcard Post! Running

Some people like to workout and others don’t. To some people, it comes naturally and to others, they have to work at it. I pride myself in eating healthy and overall being healthy mentally and physically. For me, I am a workout enthusiast! More specifically, I am a runner.

Now, this love for hitting the pavement rain or shine hasn’t been a passion of mine my whole life. I played sports while throughout my whole childhood and will continue to do so for as long as I physically can. I developed this love for running due to my committment to play soccer here at BGSU. At the division one level, fitness is so vital that if you are not fit, you will not play. I’m not saying I wasn’t fit before college, but my training throughout these last four years has made me the fittest I’ve ever been! I had to work at the running, but now, I feel like I can’t go a day without running. But, if I do, I get in this weird/bad mood which makes me realize I do love it so much.

The past summer, I ran my first half-marathon in Chicago, Illinois. I loved every single minute of it! The race was a challenge both mentally and physically. After that, I signed up for a few smaller 8k’s and 5k’s to run and will be running in my second half marathon this upcoming April-the Toledo Glass Half-Marathon.

I even enjoy running so much that for Christmas this past year, I asked for a subscription to Runner’s World magazine. It’s so unfortunate that the magazine comes out on a monthly basis. But I enjoy reading stories about runner’s experiences in races and different workouts there are to do.

Whenever I go out on a run, I forget about my worries and stresses in my daily life. I get on this runner’s high sometimes and I feel like I can run forever. Running is my outlet and getaway from life. I just can’t express enough how much passion I have for it.

When winter hits, I get the treadmill blues and sometimes have to resort to other types of workouts like swimming, ellipticals, and biking. Which hey, I love those workouts too just not as much as running. So when Spring is here, I am so happy. I get to run outside and run pretty much wherever my little legs will take me. From there, I have about 3/4 of the year to enjoy being outside.

I honestly do not see any norms when I comes to running. There is not a certain ratio of men to women runners. Yet, when it comes to big races, you do see runners from Africa (Ethiopia in particular) who tend to win more races. Running is a way of life for them.

-Additional comments:

When it comes to running between men and women, there’s not really one gender who runs more than the other. I believe it is pretty even. However, when it comes to training for men and women, that does differ based off our body structures. In Runner’s World, there are highlights and interviews of both male and female runners and their workouts. When it comes to women, our knees area, and this is true in all female sports, are more susceptible to injury due to the sheer construction of our bodies. So there are workouts that help counter this by suggestions for different leg workouts that women can do to prevent this.

When it comes to success of runners, as in winning races and setting records, men are highlighted more in running magazines-this is true in my Runner’s World. There are more men who are highlighted for their successes in college, their personal history of running, and why they love to run. I’m not saying there are not females that get highlighted; there are just more men who are based on the records they are breaking. But overall, guys are overall faster than women; not every one, but for the most part. So, I do see why they would be highlighted more than women.

When I ran my Glass City Half Marathon this past weekend in Toledo, the overall winner was a male. This was expected, but there was a woman who finished a few minutes after him-giving him a run for his money! What was interesting was that there were 977 females who ran out of a total of 1705 half marathoners. This is over 50% of the field! I’m not sure if this is due to the interest of runners in the area being more-so female, but I was intrigued by those figures.

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Song Analysis #2: “Beautiful Disaster” by Jon Mclaughlin

The song “Beautiful Disaster” by Jon McLaughlin has become a new found favorite of mine. It has such a strong message and the lyrics are pretty powerful and realistic for some stereotypes on women.

To begin, the opening lyrics are such: “And every magazine tells her she’s not good enough, The pictures that she sees make her cry.” This is especially true with women. The models that are portrayed in magazines and commercials are the societal standard that women are expected to meet. The skinny white female body is one in which women should strive to meet-is what the media has established in our society. This in turn leaves some girls upset because they do not look like the skinny model on the cover of the magazine or commercial on TV. Then women feel as though in order to be the popular one, even liked, accepted, or in order to be successful in life, they need to pursue methods in order to become this standard. This  is done through dieting and exercise although eating disorders can develop as a result.

Another lyric excerpt is this: “She’s giving boys what they want, tries to act so nonchalant, Afraid they’ll see that she’s lost her direction. She never stays the same for long, Assuming that she’ll get it wrong. Perfect only in her imperfection.”

This is basically stating the fact that women give in to what men want in order to be loved/liked or be wanted/needed.  Women are constantly changing themselves in order to be liked by that man. To me, women shouldn’t change who they are in order to gain the trust or love of a man. Women need to be themselves and not lose sight of who they are at heart as an individual.

A final lyric excerpt is this: “She would change everything for happy ever after.
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster, But she just needs someone to take her home. Cuz she’s just the way she is, but no ones told her that’s ok.”

McLaughlin hits the nail on the head with this. Women are constantly torn between what is expected of them and what they want to be in life. It is said that women want that “happily ever after” moment, a sentimental aspect we are stereotyped with because we are naturally nurturing. I’d say we all want to be happy in life, both men and women. But as McLaughlin says, “no one’s told her that’s ok…” is referring to the fact that, and I am inferring, that women are not told enough that they are perfect the way that they are and shouldn’t feel like they need society’s approval to be beautiful. Everyone is beautiful in their own way.

My friends love this song because we can relate to it so well. We love singing it it and putting it on replay. The message is so strong and we can all relate to it from events in our own lives.

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Popular Song Analysis: By Pink-“F***ing Perfect”

For this blog post, I wanted to analyze a popular song that I personally have started to listen to more and more. The song is “F***ing Perfect” by song artist Pink. This song discusses how people should never feel like they are worthless or won’t amount to anything because they are different. Some examples of these differences are what individuals’ interests may be as well as race, gender, or sexual orientation. The world we live in today, anyone who is not normal by not meeting social standards, which do vary in cultures, are also looked down upon. What Pink is trying to express through this song is that no one should ever make you feel inferior to others. You are who you are and no one can take that away from you; you are “perfect” because you are you and you are different.

One line that stands out from the song, besides the chorus, would be this: “Done looking for the critics, cause they’re everywhere, they don’t like my jeans, they don’t get my hair, [we] exchange ourselves, and we do it all the time
Why do we do that? Why do I do that?”.

This lyrical exerpt hits hard on what is happening in society today. People are all critics and they have standards that they measure others by those standards. People analyze others based on gender, race, and sexual orientation, what they are wearing and interests. And as a result, it makes people who are of another race, male or female, gay or lesbian or heterosexuals, feel insecure and out of place. Who are those people (critics) to decide what or who is normal and why are they making those who are not like them feel like they don’t belong? No one should ever feel out of place. Everyone should be proud of who they are, what their beliefs and practices are, and where they come from.

Pink also says in this song “Welcome to my silly life, mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood…” This lyric is just another example of how people who may be of a different race, gender, or sexual orientation can feel when others of the so called “normal society” make comments or treat those individuals. Pink says “silly life” because that’s what it is; it is silly to think that people are hindered from living their lives because they are different.

People should not care about what others think about them. Yet, ideally we would like for this to happen, it is easier said than done for a lot of people. Like Pink says, “Don’t you ever, ever feel like you’re less than, less than f***ing perfect…you are perfect to me.” Everyone is perfect in their own way no matter what. I think everyone should take this song to heart and really reflect on how they treat others.

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I Just Read a Book! The “Skinny Bitch” Review

Within the past year, I have become more and more conscious about what I am eating. Now, I am not saying that I ate bad before. I have been an athlete my whole life and I ate my fruits, veggies, carbs, and proteins while minimizing my sweets intake. I feel as though I have always been a healthy person, but as of this past year, I have raised my bar.

One of my teammates/best friend has the same healthy mindset as I do: she works out almost everyday and watches what she eats. A while back, she had watched a documentary called Food Inc. and had told me that it was a very informative film, one in which I should watch. It was a film about the meat packing industry and how the animals are treated-as in what they are fed and the conditions in which they live.

Similarly, the book I just finished, “Skinny Bitch” also put this into perspective for readers. The title itself tells you which gender it is geared toward: women. Even moreso, the author discusses how women constantly want to go on diets and lose weight. I think we can all agree that when it comes to wanting to loose weight, women are the ones that are targeted in that category more than men. Thus, the “Skinny” part of the title comes into play. Women are particularly more worried about what their appearance looks like, especially their figure. The author uses language that is pretty blatent. Here are a couple of exerpts:

“If you can’t take one more day of self-loathing, you’re ready to hear the truth: You cannot keep shoveling the same crap into your mouth every day and expect to lose weight.”

“Buying organic products is the only way to guarantee you’re not eating genetically modified organisms.”

“You need to get healthly if you want to get skinny.”

Overall, the authors discuss how we need to be informed about what we eat because we are what we eat. Much of the meat industry uses hormone injections and genetically altered products, not to mention raise their cows or chickens in such horrible quarantines that they are walking in their own feces. I don’t know about you, but to me that’s disguisting. Plus, the chemicals that manufacturers use to keep the meat “good” while in transit also is put into your body when you eat it.

Because women are so concerned about their image, I believe that it is more than just a diet that they need to pursue in order to obtain weight goals. As a result of reading this book, I am more informed about the meat industry and the importance of watching the food (where it came from and what it’s made up of) that I put in my body. It is a lifestyle change and women need to understand that.

I am in a healthier state of mind and physically better as a result of reading this book.

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Greeting Card

I think that looking at and for greeting cards is one of my favorite things to shop for. My best friend and I would make frequent trips to the Hallmark store or even make a stop down the greeting card aisle at the grocery store to look at the cards. Here’s the funny thing about looking at greeting cards-my best friend and I would sometimes not even have a reason to look for or purchase a card; we would go and look them just for fun.

However, when I do want to purchase a greeting card for someone, I probably spend over an hour searching for that perfect greeting card that fits the individual whom I am looking to buy it for. As quirky as this sounds, I get the best feeling in the world when I find the PERFECT greeting card, no matter what the occassion is. But the card that is featured in this post is not one that I purchased for someone. Weirdly enough, it is my greeting card from my best friend that always card shopped with me.  

The card has three sizes of ice cream cones on it. As you can see below, under the sizes small, medium, and large, the following phrases are written respectively: “small”, “medium”, ” what we both order”. On the inside of the card, it says, “I like the way we think.” This greeting card is moreso directed towards females and in particular friends. The sayings on the card indicate a strong bond between two people. Delving a bit deeper, I know for me and a lot of my friends, we tend to bond and get closer when food is involved. Plus, based on our “biologicalness” for a lack of better term, we tend to crave sweets more than men. With that said, the gender norm associated with this card would be that women and cravings for sweets go hand in hand. I think that also, the colors on the card attract women more than men. The sky blue background and pastel sprinkles are definitely not masculine colors by any means.

Overall, I’d have to say that this was the perfect card for my best friend to send me. It fits our relationship so well and it was probably an easy card to pick out of the bunch.

My Greeting Card

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Nerf Gun-Refelcting Gender Norms and Expectations

This first blog topic is based on a toy and how it reflects gender norms and expectations. The toy I selected was a Nerf Gun (as seen below). First of all, it is a gun. Guns are mainly directed towards men/males, but more specifically here because it is a toy, young boys. The sheer look of the toy is also an indicator that boys will use it: it is a big gun, bullets being fed into the gun by a belt, and it is not pink (a color we associate with girls/females). I remember growing up and seeing commercials for Nerf Guns, the commercials always, always, always had boys running around and shooting at each other or targets. Plus, guns have a masculine or powerful connotation. Whomever is holding a gun has the power to control others. Further, women are expected to be more nurturing and kind.

Overall, it can be assumed that most boys growing up will at somepoint or another will want a Nerf Gun. I wouldn’t consider it a “rite of passage”, but I remember all of my guy friends at that age had one and even my brother when he was that young. Boys and toy Nerf guns. Girls and Barbies. Those are the toys that people associate with young ones growing up.

-Additional Comments:

For young boys, it seems as though it is a norm to have a toy gun at some point when they are younger. Rarely do you see little girls running around carrying nerf guns. Boys are attracted to the fighting and gun playing when they are younger. Even today, that can translate to video games and playing Call of Duty all day long. Girls on the other hand, are given the stereotype at a young age that they should play house or with dolls. Not every girl or boy fits the stereotype, but generally at some point I would say they would play with those respective toys.

For boys, I think that the noise of the gun, it’s cool colors, and the pure fact that they can act like cops or guys in movies with guns attracts them to wanting to have a gun. The media I think contributes to this action pursued thrill by young boys and to satisfy that they play with toy guns-in this case a toy nerf gun.

I honestly do not see a lot of nerf guns being advertised nowadays. This could be due to the fact that society is trying to stop the nation’s youth from becoming involved in violence and toy guns might be a trigger of it. In the past, it was acceptable to have a gun in society. Today, that has faded. I think the population of people who own guns has decreased and that society views owning a gun not so much as for protection purposes, but violence related.

As you can see below, the gun is pretty large and has a support system to prop it up like a sniper’s gun would. In addition, it has a lot of nerf bullets that it can shoot out at a fast pace. I also think that boys like the nerf guns is due to all the “cool” looking gadgets that are attached to the gun. It just makes them feel powerful and cool at a young age.

 

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