Trash Talk - You didn't want to get chicked?

I'm gonna try to make this short to get to the good stuff...If you want to skip to the best part, skip the next paragraph.

You know the placebo effect? Well, on Wednesday night I began taking my prescription to help correct my endocrine issues. I got the information from the doctor and the pharmacist about the possible side effects and did thorough research on reputable websites to discover how the drug works in my body. According to what I have read, the drug binds to dopamine receptors in my body and may cause nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness, low blood pressure and a few other uncomfortable things. Most of the bad side effects, if felt at all, should only be present the first few days of taking it and improve. I have not had much of an issue with any of the side effects...in fact yesterday I think I felt a little too good. Was it the placebo effect? Most definitely. I highly doubt the tiny little dose of my medicine that I had taken for one day now caused me to feel as good as I felt yesterday or caused me to be more productive the entire day. What I wonder about is my goofy behavior last night on the trail (dopamine receptors anyone?).

So, I've blogged in the past about passing people on the trail (here and here) and how competitive I can be. This is the latest episode of crazy competitive trail running. Last night I was running on the trail and ran up behind two 30-something dudes running together. I wasn't sure I wanted to pass them because they weren't going too much slower than me. Perhaps I wouldn't need to 'open that can of worms' and initiate a round of competitive passing on the trail. If they were running my pace, I would have backed off and let them run ahead of me. I made sure to run behind them long enough to get a good sense of their pace so that I would know exactly how much faster I needed to run to get by them.

After I passed and was running in front of them, I heard one of the guys make a comment under his breath and the other one kind of laughed. Whatever. Surely it wasn't about me passing them, or was it? I hate it when dudes try to re-pass me, so I made sure to keep up my faster pace. After about 200 yards, I could tell that they were still behind me, but further back because I heard one of them talk to the other. Sure enough, one of the dudes comes bounding by me (on the right) with the most ridiculous stride. I mean really ridiculous.

What a dork. He clearly had picked up his pace. As he passes me, I don't know why I said it, but it came out...'You didn't want to get chicked?' Oh crap, I actually said it out loud...that was supposed to be my private thought! What the hell happened to my filter?! What is funny is that he didn't respond. He must have been so focused on running fast to pass me...clearly it wasn't his conversational pace. I cringe at myself for saying it out loud, but then start to feel really fired up about it. How awesome! I just trash talked a dude!

He continues to run ahead of me with a gap of 10-15 yards for a while. I notice that he is having trouble dropping me after the pass (no surprise). I intended to keep him in my view so that I could witness him breaking with fatigue...after all, these guys always end up breaking in the end. Sure enough, after another 200 yards he slows down and pulls off to 'get some water' at one of the random water fountains on the trail. Mostly, I think he pulled over to wait for his running buddy...he is a total tool who left his friend to pass a chick.

Did I ignore his moment of weakness? Did I let it go and continue with the personal satisfaction of knowing that I outlasted him? Normally I would have. It must be a new side effect that they need to list for my medication - confidence, cockiness, competitiveness, removal of personal thought filter - whatever you want to call it. As he lamely pulls over to the fountain, I turn and continue my trash talking loudly in his direction 'You know, it's okay to get passed by a girl!'.

What in the hell has gotten into me? Why am I talking smack at random dudes? I can't believe I did that, but it felt so good! I shared the story with some of the people in our group and got some giggles.

So, next time you are out on the trail and pull that kind of crap with me on the trail, you just might get some trash talk of your own. Was I nervous about his response? Nah...I clearly can out-run him. :)