luv2run wrote:
Years ago I was on a flight and this very attractive woman is walking down the aisle toward me. The middle seat is open and there is a guy next to window. I am thinking what are the odds this attractive woman has the middle..
(The quotes will not be exact)
She is at my row and says "that's me". I get up to let her in and am thinking this beats the people I usually get next to.
She and I make small talk (I was married at the time plus if I was not what is going to happen?). The guy chimes in something, then we all just go back to what we are doing. After take off I pull out a book on running. She asks if I run and says she is training for her first half-marathon. I tell her how much I like that distance. We talk a few minutes about long runs and such.
There is a pause in our conversation and the window seat guy chimes in with "I have run a few halves". I nod, she nods, she asks where and he says "all over" but names a few cities that likely have half-marathons. She asks me for my PR in the half and I tell her. The guy then drops this one "My last one was the Olympic Trials".
Well keep in mind that I have worked in Olympic sports for pretty much the past 20 years and follow things pretty closely especially in track and field.
Since it was early 2006, I asked if he was talking about the marathon. (I will say the guy looked reasonably fit but a bit more muscular looking than a distance runner). No, he said he ran in the 2004 Olympic Half Marathon Trials. The woman was kind of impressed.
At this I am thinking what do I do. I can just let it go or bust him. I was leaning toward letting it go (we have 90 minutes left in this flight probably). But then he adds in that he would have made the team but he got a muscle cramp.
For some reason that pushed me over the edge, but how was the best way to bust the guy?
I asked where the Trials were because I knew the Marathon Trials were in Birmingham that year. He said the half was in the same place but I could see the look on his face that he was not liking where this might be going.
I asked him who won and made the team. He could not name the people who made the team. (In his defense he could not name people who made a non-existent team). I asked if he knew several people that an elite runner would know at USATF and USOC.
That led me to introduce myself and what I did and that there is no half-marathon in the Olympics. His response was something like "Well they called it the Olympic Trials" and just stopped right there.
The woman looked at me, rolled her eyes and we chatted off and on the rest of the flight.
As we deplaned, she said I really shut him down. I asked if I was too rough. She say no, he was kinda a smarmy dick.
There have been many occasions where people have just told a lie about making the Olympics or nearly making them that it drives me nuts. Non-running, but I took a whitewater rafting trip and the guide said he was training for the Olympic Whitewater Rafting team. I let it go (this guy could have my life in his hands), but when we went around the boat saying what we did and I mentioned I worked in the Olympic movement he never mentioned it again.