{"id":2145,"date":"2013-08-01T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/?p=2145"},"modified":"2013-07-31T10:38:50","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T14:38:50","slug":"to-athena-or-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/01\/to-athena-or-no\/","title":{"rendered":"To Athena or No?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over on the Tough Chik blog<\/a>, there’s an interesting post on whether or not to register for Athena class (sometimes over 150 lbs, sometimes over 165 lbs).\u00a0 I’m friends with the original author of the FB post that inspired this, so it’s a debate I’ve been mulling over for a while.<\/p>\n

Obviously, I’ve said it here.\u00a0 I’m registered as an Athena for my race in a few weeks.\u00a0 I weigh over 150 pounds and so be it.<\/p>\n

I agree with the RD’s comments – does weighing more automatically make you a lesser athlete?\u00a0 Clearly not.\u00a0 And yes, muscle weighs more than fat, and some of us will just always be slightly heavier athletes.\u00a0 So be it.<\/p>\n

But what got to me was some of the commentary, both on the blog and other places.\u00a0 The allegation was that people register for Athena (or Clydesdale, if you’re a guy) because they simply want to place, because it’s less competitive.<\/p>\n

I will admit, in some races, the Athena field is small.\u00a0 In the race I’m doing in a few weeks, the list is long.\u00a0 Looking at previous year’s results, there is no way I have any chance at placing.\u00a0 So why do Athena?<\/p>\n

A couple of reasons.\u00a0 Number one, I qualify.\u00a0 Number two, it means I get to start with friends who I would otherwise not get to start with based on AG waves.\u00a0 As it turns out, it also means an earlier start time, but I didn’t know that when I registered.<\/p>\n

But you know what?\u00a0 I’m also registered there because somewhere in my brain, I would like to place.\u00a0 I have no chance at an award in my AG and I honestly have no chance in Athena either, but I can dream.\u00a0 It feels like it’s a possibility.\u00a0 Maybe not this year, but maybe someday.<\/p>\n

I hate the allegation that I’m not facing real competition by competing Athena.\u00a0 Have you seen some of those women?\u00a0 They are crazy fast.\u00a0 And not just the ones who are barely qualifying.\u00a0 I know triathletes who easily have 30 pounds on me who could blow me out of the water any day.<\/p>\n

Now, the ideal is that I get down to a healthy weight, which would put me out of Athena classification.\u00a0 Because that’s where I should be.\u00a0 But that doesn’t mean that I’m any lesser or facing any less competition now.\u00a0 I shouldn’t be made to feel bad for going out and competing, regardless of which class I choose to compete in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over on the Tough Chik blog, there’s an interesting post on whether or not to register for Athena class (sometimes over 150 lbs, sometimes over 165 lbs).\u00a0 I’m friends with the original author of the FB post that inspired this, so it’s a debate I’ve been mulling over for a while. Obviously, I’ve said it […]<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[160,115],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nTo Athena or No? - Elbowglitter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/01\/to-athena-or-no\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Athena or No? - Elbowglitter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over on the Tough Chik blog, there’s an interesting post on whether or not to register for Athena class (sometimes over 150 lbs, sometimes over 165 lbs).\u00a0 I’m friends with the original author of the FB post that inspired this, so it’s a debate I’ve been mulling over for a while. 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