Politeness

I was talking yesterday to a guy who had been a 2:18 marathoner in his day, and had run at the 1980 Olympic Trials. We live in a town where sometimes it seems that every third woman plans to run a marathon.

I asked him, "What do you say when you're at a cocktail party and some woman brings up her running, and talks about how she's hoping to break 4:30? Do you ever mention that you once ran a 2:18?"

He shook his head.

I continued, "Well do you act impressed? Do you say, 'Wow, that's good'? I guess you have no choice."

He grinned, tacitly acknowledging that he had been in that position often, but said, "There was a guy in my office who completed a marathon last year. He basically walked most of it, and went a 5:30. And, you know, a 4:30 is better than a 5:30. I mean, a 4:30 at least means you're actually running it."

I guess you could call that a weak attempt to justify good manners.