Getting Chicked.

We're back at the beach again, this time with my mom

and dad at Ocean Isle Beach. I brought the boys on Tuesday and we've been having a great time playing on the beach, fishing with Mimi and Bobo, watching cable tv (a treat since the very

austere Barnhardts only have 12 channels at home-did you know there's a show called "Confessions:Animal Hoarders" on Animal Planet??), and trying to thwart Cameron's insistent pleas to go to "Myrtles Beach" and play putt putt at one of the volcano/airplane/dinosaur tourist traps. Aside from that, I've been trying to say yes as much as possible. Sometimes I need a vacation just from saying no.

Thanks to very gracious parents I am able to keep up with my training while I'm here, and so went for a four mile run yesterday afternoon around 5:45 and a six mile run this morning. It goes without saying that it was hooooot, and humid, and windy and flat. It was fine, really, because I was happy to be out running. It was fine, that is, until I got passed.

I could hear the guy coming up behind me for about 20 seconds, and when he finally did pass, I started laughing and said "That's very unsporting of you!" He laughed, continued to pass me, and said "I got passed by two teenagers yesterday, so I know how it feels. Keep it up!"

Like most people, I would much prefer being the passer rather than the passed. And in a race, I typically do pass people, especially in the last 3 miles or so. Now let me be clear. I'm not up in the lead pack, passing people at a 6 minute mile clip, elbowing them out of the way for a spot in the top ten. I'm passing people who came out too fast, or who are falling apart towards the end, or who have pulled a hammy and are just trying to bring it in steady. That's who I'm passing.

It was recently brought to my attention that there's a term for getting passed by a girl-"getting chicked." When I heard this, I laughed. Kinda. I laughed the kind of laugh that my brother and I laugh when something's kind of funny, kind of not, kind of maybe making us want to put the beat down on someone. Anyone who knows both of us knows the accompanying face-somewhere between a smirk and a smile, with a little bit of trouble behind the eyes.

What's the term when you get passed by a guy then? "Normal" or "typical" or "expected"? Now don't worry--I'm not going to go all Gloria Steinem/Naomi Wolf/Soujourner Truth "Ain't I a Woman" on you, but I'm thinking about it. I am.

For now I suppose I'll call getting passed by a guy-or girl-motivation. If you've ever run, you know it can be demoralizing to get passed. But it can also serve to get you moving a little faster, to pick up the pace, or to just flat out keep going. I'll never forget Maddy passing me on the bike in the Greenville Tri last August...at first I just wanted to keep her in my sights. When that wasn't happening, I just wanted to catch up to her and her sweet tri-suit during the run.

Getting passed by Maddy made me push that much harder, not so much because I wanted to beat her (though that would have been nice too), but mainly because I wanted to do my best, to put it all out there and put down the best race possible.

So whether you get "chicked" or you get "motivated" or you get "manned", keep going, like the guy who passed me encouraged me to do. You'll be happy you did. And you never know-you may end up chicking/motivating/manning them too.