Groot Eats Cheese
At a recent web conference that I attended for work, I learned about Road IDs. These are identification tags, usually worn on wristbands, so that runners and other sporty folk who might encounter ninjas, aliens, memory loss, or other calamities while "on the road" engaging in their hobby can have a means for whoever might find them to be able to tell who they are and who they should call. Never one to miss out on a justification to buy some jewelry and to declare to the world "Hey, I'm a runner!" I got online and ordered one for me and one for Chad.
Deciding what to put on our tags was quite laborious, as you could have up to five lines of text, including some type of short inspirational saying. While having a slogan wasn't required, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity. I've always loved mottoes and whatnot. I think that's part of the reason I loved Star Wars so much is because it gave us "May the Force Be With You" (precociously referred to as "MTFBWY" by me and my friend Jennifer WAY before text messaging.)
I also appreciate the value of a slogan because Rule 1.67 in Mark Remy's "The Runner's Rule Book" (my personal running bible) is "Never Underestimate the Value of a Trite Slogan" and Rule 2.17 is "Have a Mantra." As Mr. Remy explains on page 97, your running mantra can be just one word:
"A single word can be just as effective [as a phrase] by the way. Smooth, for example. Or light. Or beer. (But not lite beer. That's just weak.)"
I could have just followed Mr. Remy's guidance and went with "Wine" or "Bourbon" but I like to make things complicated so I racked my brain trying to come up with the perfect word or phrase to inspire me. Plus, the quotes and slogan suggested on the Road ID site are highly entertaining. They include expected ones like "You Got This" and "Believe and Achieve" and funny ones such as "Embrace the Suck."
And then there is this one: "Turtles Eat Cheese." I have NO idea what this means. I did a little Googling and it doesn't appear to be sexual or offensive. I like turtles and I like cheese, and it makes me laugh, but maybe it's saying that slow non-runners can sit around and eat cheese? Whatever, it apparently inspired someone. That's one of the awesome things about inspiration, it can come from something trite and overused, or something highly personal, or just something really weird and random.
Perusing Road ID slogans felt a lot like trying to come up with band names and/or song titles and lyrics. I do think "Turtles Eat Cheese" needs to be put in the potential band name/song inspiration parking lot.
I did think about going with the quote "And though she be but little, she is fierce," which is from "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Chad got me an awesome shirt with this quote on it for Christmas to commemorate my marathoning aspirations. I certainly aspire to be fierce (in a good, not just bitchy way) but the quote was probably a little too long.
Eventually, I settled on "That's My Girl" as my Road ID slogan. I realize that out of context, or maybe even in context, that seems inappropriate (not sexually inappropriate but just not right) and sexist, but it's something Chad says about me that always makes me smile. I'm not sure how we got started with that little Chamy-ism. (It has NOTHING to do with the song by Fifth Harmony because I didn't even know that existed until I was doing "research" for this post). Whatever the origin, thinking about Chad trying to cheer me on (which is actually a rather dicey endeavor because I get surprisingly surly when I'm running) makes me have all the warm and fuzzy feels.
And what did Chad decide to go with? He told me he didn't care, so in a stroke of inspiration, I came of with "Meh." Even Chad agreed that was pretty funny.
Turns out, all of this time thinking about running slogans may have been wasted, because the writing is so small on the ID bracelets that I can't even read them. I just have to hope that if I'm ever waylaid in a dumpster on a run that whoever finds me has really good eyesight or the technology and patience to zoom in on the text.
The upside is that since I can't read the ID anyway, I can just pretend it says whatever I happen to want it to say at the moment. It could say "Covfefe." (Although anything associated with Trump is hardly inspirational, unless I imagine Trump is chasing me.) Maybe I should just pretend it says "I Am Groot" because that can mean so many different things depending on context and if thinking of Groot doesn't move and inspire me, nothing will.
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| With my "fivehead" (big forehead) I look a little like Groot |
I also appreciate the value of a slogan because Rule 1.67 in Mark Remy's "The Runner's Rule Book" (my personal running bible) is "Never Underestimate the Value of a Trite Slogan" and Rule 2.17 is "Have a Mantra." As Mr. Remy explains on page 97, your running mantra can be just one word:
"A single word can be just as effective [as a phrase] by the way. Smooth, for example. Or light. Or beer. (But not lite beer. That's just weak.)"
I could have just followed Mr. Remy's guidance and went with "Wine" or "Bourbon" but I like to make things complicated so I racked my brain trying to come up with the perfect word or phrase to inspire me. Plus, the quotes and slogan suggested on the Road ID site are highly entertaining. They include expected ones like "You Got This" and "Believe and Achieve" and funny ones such as "Embrace the Suck."
And then there is this one: "Turtles Eat Cheese." I have NO idea what this means. I did a little Googling and it doesn't appear to be sexual or offensive. I like turtles and I like cheese, and it makes me laugh, but maybe it's saying that slow non-runners can sit around and eat cheese? Whatever, it apparently inspired someone. That's one of the awesome things about inspiration, it can come from something trite and overused, or something highly personal, or just something really weird and random.
Perusing Road ID slogans felt a lot like trying to come up with band names and/or song titles and lyrics. I do think "Turtles Eat Cheese" needs to be put in the potential band name/song inspiration parking lot.
I did think about going with the quote "And though she be but little, she is fierce," which is from "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Chad got me an awesome shirt with this quote on it for Christmas to commemorate my marathoning aspirations. I certainly aspire to be fierce (in a good, not just bitchy way) but the quote was probably a little too long.
Eventually, I settled on "That's My Girl" as my Road ID slogan. I realize that out of context, or maybe even in context, that seems inappropriate (not sexually inappropriate but just not right) and sexist, but it's something Chad says about me that always makes me smile. I'm not sure how we got started with that little Chamy-ism. (It has NOTHING to do with the song by Fifth Harmony because I didn't even know that existed until I was doing "research" for this post). Whatever the origin, thinking about Chad trying to cheer me on (which is actually a rather dicey endeavor because I get surprisingly surly when I'm running) makes me have all the warm and fuzzy feels.
And what did Chad decide to go with? He told me he didn't care, so in a stroke of inspiration, I came of with "Meh." Even Chad agreed that was pretty funny.
Turns out, all of this time thinking about running slogans may have been wasted, because the writing is so small on the ID bracelets that I can't even read them. I just have to hope that if I'm ever waylaid in a dumpster on a run that whoever finds me has really good eyesight or the technology and patience to zoom in on the text.
The upside is that since I can't read the ID anyway, I can just pretend it says whatever I happen to want it to say at the moment. It could say "Covfefe." (Although anything associated with Trump is hardly inspirational, unless I imagine Trump is chasing me.) Maybe I should just pretend it says "I Am Groot" because that can mean so many different things depending on context and if thinking of Groot doesn't move and inspire me, nothing will.
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