I am not a jewelry girl. Hate it. I'd prefer to wear only a running watch and even that is sometimes a drag. (I also hate wearing shoes, but that's a different story.) Jewelry often tells the public a lot about who you are, so I have chosen mine carefully. Obviously my most important jewelry is my wedding ring. It tells the world that I am a wife, a mother, a friend. These are personas that are precious to me, but also fairly public. I am regularly seen with my husband and/or my kids, I talk about them, etc.
My other persona, the "athlete," if you can call it that, is a little less public. I've not been terribly open about my running and triathlon activities - in part because I'm slow and in part because people don't get it. To many, I'm either totally insane (guilty) or totally amazing (not so much). But at least before I decided to share this crazy journey, my athletic endeavors were generally something that I did not talk about, etc.
Despite keeping my athlete persona largely private, though, I have decided to wear jewelry that signals its existence. I have two pieces of jewelry, one older and one newer, that are very special to me that say "athlete" to people who bother to look.
First is a necklace that my husband got me many years ago - probably during my 1st or 2nd year of doing triathlons. It is from a company called Triclique (which doesn't seem to be in business anymore - too bad...although Milestone Sports also has some cute tri jewelry) and is a pretty representation of the three disciplines of triathlon.
(photo triathlongoddess.blogspot.com)
When I stopped doing tris a couple years ago, I stopped wearing it. I felt like a poser proclaiming that I was a triathlete when really I was just a couch slug. But last fall, after doing the couple of sprints to get me back into triathlons, I started wearing it religiously again. In fact, I managed to break the chain. Bummer - I bought a cheap one but it's getting kind of nasty, so I need to get another nicer chain so I can keep wearing it every day.
Last year was a big running year for me, so for Christmas, husband bought me this ring from Endure:
(photo endureshop.com)
(It says "live love RUN" for those of you with bad eyes...). I wear this a lot of the days - it's a bit delicate so I have to be careful with it, but I love wearing it...at least as much as I love wearing any jewelry. ;)
Will I get another piece of jewelry after I finish the HIM? Maybe - I have a pendant that says 26.2 from when I finished my first marathon...I wore that for a while, but it started to feel like it belonged to someone else, so I stopped wearing it. On the other hand, when I finish the HIM, I think I will always feel like a rockstar, so maybe getting a pendant or something to commemorate that will be the right way to celebrate.
(Don't ask me about the tattoo I want when I finish a full IM - that is a touchy subject! Hubby and I are debating between celebrating with a car sticker (which he hates, but likes better than tattoos) or a tattoo (which I will really want when I do a full IM). There are many years before that debate needs to be completed however. One race at a time!)
No comments:
Post a Comment