Cotton T-Shirt

I went for a 5-mile run with the guys at Stone Mountain Park this morning. Before I left the house I checked the temperature from two separate sources. Both said roughly the same thing; 70 degrees.

Seventy degrees indicated that a racing singlet was appropriate running attire. A technical t-shirt might be a little warm, but a cotton t-shirt would definitely be too warm for the weather. I knew all my running buddies would be wearing cotton t-shirts because winter was just ending, so I wore one also. I knew better, but I did it just the same.

It was no surprise that I was hot after the first mile, soaking wet after the second mile, and miserable for the remainder of the run. Shoulda, coulda, woulda, doesn’t cut it. I knew better, but I did it anyway. I wore the cotton t-shirt because my buddies were, and I was sorry that I did.

Afterwards I was disappointed in myself that I had so easily succumbed to peer-group pressure. Here I am, a 58-year-old man who has been running for 43 years, and I still found myself yielding to peer-group pressure in the simple matter of choosing the right shirt.

So here’s the lesson that we all know all too well. If we cannot do the small things without succumbing to peer-group pressure, how are we going to manage issues of real consequence?

Beware my young apprentice the dark side of the force.

April 2010