For my Comparative Politics class, we are writing about Mechanisms of Socialization and as I'm an editor, I don't really get to write anything but felt the need to anyway.

Let's start off with the obvious:

1) Competitive running is purely time-based.  Not only does this condition young runners to be on time and want to hit certain times, extrapolated to the real world, this conditions runners to be purely focused on the end product and ignore the journey to the end product.  Who on earth wants to remember a race when you feel like hell and your legs are about to fall off?  I guess I replay most of my good races in my head and thus my focus does indeed turn to the journey, but the best part of the journey isn't the race itself but the time I get.  I could feel wonderful and still have a ridiculously crappy time.

2) Body issues.  It's well known that the skinnier you are (or the less fat you have) the faster you go.  And I'm not going to lie.  Everyone on my team is skinny as noodles.  I'm the fatty on the team and my BMI is in the low 20s.  My friend gained around 10 pounds of muscle/fat by going through puberty and her mom is breathing down her back to loose weight; she told me the other day, "well, I was thinking.. the whole skinny thing works for such-and-such, maybe I should loose a little weight." She is 107 pounds and is 5'2".   That makes her BMI 19.6.  The girl she is comparing herself to is 90 pounds and is 5'1".  That makes her BMI 17.0, which is significantly underweight.  Now you know why a lot of good female runners are anorexic (Google Amber Trotter, California cross country legend).  Even guys are pretty sensitive to weight.

Hold on, more are coming.  I have homework to do.