{"id":4730,"date":"2016-10-19T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/?p=4730"},"modified":"2016-10-21T09:27:26","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T13:27:26","slug":"the-internet-bullies-are-at-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/19\/the-internet-bullies-are-at-it-again\/","title":{"rendered":"The Internet Bullies are At It Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

So it’s Wednesday, which is usually a workout recap day for me, but something happened on the internet yesterday that I wanted to talk about. \u00a0The internet bullies came out in full force. \u00a0I wasn’t their target, but that doesn’t make me any less angry and disappointed about what happened.<\/p>\n

To briefly summarize:<\/p>\n

A woman who ran Augusta 70.3 (who I had “met” in a Facebook group and who seems pretty darn nice) posted in a Facebook group about an experience she had. \u00a0She was wearing her Augusta finisher’s gear and a stranger came up to her and told her that it was inappropriate for people who didn’t do a race to wear finisher’s gear. \u00a0She considers herself a “bigger triathlete” so I guess this person didn’t think she had the right look to have finished a 70.3.<\/p>\n

\"Does<\/a>
Does this look like a triathlete? Yes, because I’m finishing a triathlon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s a feeling a lot of triathletes have. \u00a0“I’m too big to do this.” \u00a0Sure, it’s easier to bike up hills if you’re carrying less weight. \u00a0It’s part of the reason I’m working to drop some pounds – I want to get faster. \u00a0Does it mean that I can’t do it at my current weight? \u00a0Nope. \u00a0Does it mean that I couldn’t do it 20 pounds heavier? \u00a0Nope. \u00a0So this woman wanted to share her story, share her frustration, and also her pride at having finished the race.<\/p>\n

For the most part, people were friendly, congratulating her for having a good comeback to the guy, applauding her pushing through and finishing.<\/p>\n

Then someone decided to go look up her finishing time. \u00a0(This is an a**hole move to begin with, let’s be honest.) \u00a0Turns out, she was an official DNF at Augusta. \u00a0Different race companies have different rules, but for IRONMAN races, if you finish over 8:30, you are officially a DNF. \u00a0They still let you finish, they still give you your finisher’s hat and your medal, but you just don’t have an official time. \u00a0Did you then finish the race? \u00a0I think so. \u00a0Maybe you’re not official, but you covered the distance. \u00a0It’s a very different situation from races where they give you a medal even if you get swept. \u00a0I suppose technically<\/em>, you’re not a finisher, but you pushed through, got to the finish line, and now you have a goal to beat.<\/p>\n

(As an aside, my personal opinion on this has more to do with what you put into the race. \u00a0Did you follow your training plan? \u00a0If you got sick or injured and had to miss some training, that happens, of course. \u00a0But if you put in the work, and on race day, things just didn’t go your way, you deserve that finish. \u00a0If you didn’t train, thought you could just rest on your laurels, and showed up and got an official DNF, well maybe you shouldn’t be getting all the accolades. \u00a0Heck, if you didn’t train and finished within the time limits, you probably shouldn’t be getting all the accolades.)<\/em><\/p>\n

This guy calling her out on the official DNF didn’t stop there. \u00a0While plenty of people were still saying she had every right to wear the gear, others started to pile on the negativity. \u00a0And then it got worse. \u00a0Someone created a Facebook group to make fun of her as well as others, using her finisher picture as the header picture. \u00a0But this wasn’t just a private group. \u00a0No, they actually invited people they wanted to bully to the group.<\/p>\n

People. \u00a0How old are we? \u00a0This is incredibly childish (actually, I think it’s an insult to children to refer to these idiots as such). \u00a0What is the point? \u00a0How awful must you feel about yourself to bully someone from behind a keyboard?<\/p>\n

The fact that this was happening got shared in a few different Facebook groups I’m in. \u00a0And people were supportive and angry at the bullies. \u00a0But what makes me sad is that even though there were all these amazing voices out there, those mean voices are still going to cut through for a lot of people. \u00a0And some people who are new to triathlon, who are just considering their first race are going to end up stepping away because they don’t look like a “typical” triathlete and don’t want people making fun of them.<\/p>\n

The thing is, 99% of the triathletes I have met are AMAZING people. \u00a0They don’t care how fast or how slow you are. \u00a0At Kona, it’s pretty much tradition that the winners come back out late in the evening to give the last finishers their medals. \u00a0You see it happen at other races as well, and it’s not unusual at any distance to see finishers cheering on the people still racing. \u00a0Because we all run the same race.<\/p>\n

Don’t let the mean people scare you off. \u00a0And don’t let the mean people suck you in either. \u00a0Making fun of another person is not the way to feel better about yourself. \u00a0We’re all better than this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So it’s Wednesday, which is usually a workout recap day for me, but something happened on the internet yesterday that I wanted to talk about. \u00a0The internet bullies came out in full force. \u00a0I wasn’t their target, but that doesn’t make me any less angry and disappointed about what happened. To briefly summarize: A woman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Internet Bullies are At It Again - Elbowglitter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Someone actually started a Facebook group to bully other athletes. 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