77 replies to this topic

[mgi11a]

I have noticed a trend over the last couple of years there is less and less CR gear at races, in SEQ at least.

At Doomben this morning I seen 3 CR caps (counting my own) and a CR crop top. I got 2 GCR over 2hrs on a course that you seen just about every runner 5 times.

At the twilight 1/2 I think I would have been lucky to a half dozen people wearing CR gear.

Are people just not buying the caps to wear anymore? or did I miss the memo that said it's no longer cool to be seen in CR gear? Or has CR run it's race?

Over the years i've been fortunate enough to meet many fantastic people through CR, but I can't remember the last time I seen someone I didnt already know who I was able to walk up to and give them the secret hand shake.

Just my observation, anyone else care to comment?

Cheers

mgilla

[undercover brother]

the singlet is a bit warm in summer up here.
well even in winter
wear the jocks a bit.
cap sometimes too.
should wear the gear more often.

[AndyP]

I mustn't have missed you by much today, Mick. I came near the finish line at about 5 past 9. Alas, I did not wear my CR cap for the Doomben Cup today, but I consider it to be my race cap.

[Davo]

I keep my cr singlet for important races and am happy to wear it, but I must say that my recently acquired ultra singlet is better and I'll be wearing that a bit more.
Love the cr cap though, except on windy days when the weak peak gets knocked about.
I agree about meeting people through the cr brother/sisterhood. It's a great way to make new friends.

[Redback]

When I bought my CR gear 7-8 years ago, the CR community was relatively small. Wearing it was a good way to find people I already knew at race starts, and to support a fantastic website. It genuinely felt like I was part of a small "club". For me one of the (very few) downsides of CR becoming so big is that a CR hat seemed to become an invitation to anyone else who had been been on CR or was wearing CR gear to come up to me out of the blue and start talking to me, or to just loiter in my/our proximity. It isn't about being cool or not, it just made me uncomfortable (probably more to do my social issues than anything else). On top of that, I now have plenty of more comfortable/better fitting items of running gear.

[Bellthorpe]

I wear my CR cap in all races, or whenever I run in a major population centre. I think it's a well designed / constructed cap, quite happy with it.

Like Mick, I regret the dearth of other CR runners not wearing anything. At most races these days I know most of the CR folk, but many a newbie runs and then says "I didn't meet any CoolRunners". Well duh, if you see some CR gear, come up and say 'hi'. And if you get your own cap or other gear, Mick or I will come up and say 'hi' to you.

[vat]

Tend to run capless, so makes it difficult on that front.  Actually raced in the singlet on Satuday at the QR Cross Country races, but the old girl's close to her 8th birthday now, and yeah, it's a bit heavy in warmer conditions.  I was out in the CR sleeveless tri-top in inner Brisbane on Tuesday while out on the bike.

Times change.

[sfGnome]

Alas, my beloved old old CR cap finally died a couple of weeks ago. For 6 years accompanied me on every training run and race, but when it developed an extreme hernia I restricted it to races only. Now it rests quiet in the knowledge that it will never run again...

Too early to get another one while I'm still in mourning.

[undercover brother]

sfGnome, on 05 June 2011 - 09:21 PM, said:

For 6 years accompanied me on every training run and race, but when it developed an extreme hernia I restricted it to races only.

bugger! couldn't the hernia be repaired?
i hole punched about 30 holes in mine to make it more breathable.
it worked well.

[iRonnie]

Mick.  Seeing as we get on so well, I thought I might drop my ANTI-COOL stance and help you out a bit.

http://www.artsandop...z-bornstein.htm

The excerpt from Thorsten Botz-Bornsteins article "What Does It Mean To Be Cool" might help you all to understand why your/our swagger to some others is lame. Lameness, which is the the opposite of cool, is often ironically very cool.

I think Botz-Bornstein has come up with a quite good definition and a sensible conclusion (not that I would really know, however I do like a bit of that "paradoxical fusion of submission and subversion" ) . Just my opinion.

Quote

WHAT IS COOL?

In spite of this ambiguity is seems that we remain capable to distinguishing cool activities from uncool activities. What is cool? Let us say that cool resists and refuses linear structures, which has much to do with the above mentioned paradoxical fusion of submission and subversion. A rapper is cool, a CEO is not, unless he is a reasonable risk taker and refrains from pursuing success in a linear fashion. A president is uncool when he clings to absolute power, but he becomes cooler as soon as he voluntarily concedes power to opposing parties in order to maintain democratic values. This does not mean that the cool person needs to be an idealist; on the contrary, very few of the coolest rappers are idealists. Idealism can be extremely uncool according to the examples of both self-righteous Darwinists and creationists.
When it comes to coolness, the notion of play is more important than anything else because in games power gets fractured and becomes less serious which enables the player to develop a certain detached style while playing. And this style matters more than the pursuit of money, power and ideals.
Straightforward, linear, search for power is not cool; constant loss of power is not cool either. Winning is cool, but being ready to do anything in order to win is not. Both moralists and totally immoral people are uncool while people who maintain moral standards in straightforwardly immoral environments are most likely to be cool. In a word: coolness is a balance that manages to square circles or to personify paradoxes and this is well known at least since the time of cool jazz.
The cool person stays close to real life without getting absorbed by it. Coolness implies the power of abstraction without becoming overly abstract. Going with the masses is uncool as well as being overly eccentric. It is not cool to ‘take’ everything nor is it cool to ‘give’ everything away; it seems rather that the master of cool handles the ‘give and take’ of life as if it were a game. There is a balance that is created by style alone and not by straightforward, linear rules and laws.

.....All this is the reason why losing and still keeping a straight face is probably the coolest behaviour one can imagine. Coolness is control, but the dictator who controls everything is not cool because he does not face a paradox. Black cool behaviour in and before the 1960s, on the other hand, was immediately linked to African American’s inability to control political and cultural oppression. These blacks were faced with the paradox of control, which made their behaviour cool. Instead of reveling in either total control or total detachment, the aesthetics and ethics of cool fractures and alienates in order to bring forward unusual constellations. In a word: the cool person lives in a constant state of alienation.

Get it? Coolrunning's ethics and aesthetics might just be fracturing and alienating and thus bringing forward unusual constellations.

In short: wear a CR cap and you are a star mate.

Just wear it.  Who gives a toss?

Edited by iRonnie, 06 June 2011 - 10:59 AM.

[rohan]

Redback, on 05 June 2011 - 08:20 PM, said:

When I bought my CR gear 7-8 years ago, the CR community was relatively small. Wearing it was a good way to find people I already knew at race starts, and to support a fantastic website. It genuinely felt like I was part of a small "club". For me one of the (very few) downsides of CR becoming so big is that a CR hat seemed to become an invitation to anyone else who had been been on CR or was wearing CR gear to come up to me out of the blue and start talking to me, or to just loiter in my/our proximity. It isn't about being cool or not, it just made me uncomfortable (probably more to do my social issues than anything else). On top of that, I now have plenty of more comfortable/better fitting items of running gear.

I don't know about "loitering", maybe they were just waiting for you to stop chatting to someone else before introducing themselves... or maybe you are just paranoid?
I do  reckon that wearing the gear does give an ok for others who frequent CR to say howdy though, and that's a good thing.

I will admit to wearing the gear less. Partially having more athletic clothing to choose from, but also that feeling that with CR being so much bigger now it possibly doesn't need the word put out so much, and also while once you'd know everyone on the site now you find there's many you don't know because you inhabit mostly different threads to them. It's kinda embarrassing when you meet someone with hundreds of posts that you've never noticed.

[lactatehead]

iRonnie, on 06 June 2011 - 10:45 AM, said:

The excerpt from Thorsten Botz-Bornsteins article "What Does It Mean To Be Cool" might help you all to understand why your/our swagger to some others is lame. Lameness, which is the the opposite of cool, is often ironically very cool.

I think contemplating the meaning of coolness is very uncool.

[iRonnie]

[Brick]

lactatehead, on 06 June 2011 - 03:35 PM, said:

Quote

The excerpt from Thorsten Botz-Bornsteins article "What Does It Mean To Be Cool" might help you all to understand why your/our swagger to some others is lame. Lameness, which is the the opposite of cool, is often ironically very cool.

I think contemplating the meaning of coolness is very uncool.

Really why?

I would of thought that it was the opposite.
Thinking about being cool would make you super cool, maybe even cold.

[Davo]

Now guys, don't get hot under the collar about it.

[Peterhorse]

I reckon there's a bit 'function over fashion' in this issue. I wear the cap most for most races to support CR and meet other CR's but i choose to wear it backwards because it doesn't wick away sweat and i'd rather thave that distibuted behind that down my face, plus with a proboscis like mine you need more shade than what is provided by the CR cap ... and i have two CR singelts but tend to mainly wear them in training runs because it also retains sweat and i prefer more breathable gear in a race.

I think the CR colours must have been chosen originally to stand out, which they obviously do!! but maybe people want to look a bit more 'nike' or 'Lorna Jane'?? dunno...

Being a voluntary organisation this won't happen, but perhaps it would be ideal to have new (modern look) gear coming out all the time with CR logo's and such incorporated. e.g. PCRG (Pat Carroll) has new gear every winter, colour changes etc and everyone buys it and you see it everywhere because it's good to run in.??? just a thought, but who's got the time to do that.

OR....  Mgilla, it's possibly just you... a CR cap atop a head like bag of spanners, and you want the chirpie chicks to come and chat to you?  yeah, i know they're Sydchrome's so it's actually a compliment :-) catch up soon buddy

PH

[Paul Every]

Bellthorpe, on 05 June 2011 - 08:36 PM, said:

Like Mick, I regret the dearth of other CR runners not wearing anything.

Yeah, nothing like the good old days.  

[mgi11a]

Cool Running Gear  Maybe the new generation of CR's aren't aware they can buy the gear.

I remember my first 1/2 on the GC, I didn't know CR existed. I must have had someone in Cr gear running pretty close to me most of the way, every couple of hundred metres someone was yelling at me Go Coolrunner, had know idea why they were saying that, but came to the conclusion that I just must have just looked really cool.

Edited by mgi11a, 07 June 2011 - 05:26 PM.

[iRonnie]

I am not sure what the etymology of the term "coolrunning" is in relation to this forum.  I suppose K'iller could tell us. I know it can mean "safe travels my comrade".  That is according to Goose Long travel, who tends to embellish things a bit.

The quote below is most likely much more concise.

Quote

Jamaican patois. The phrase 'cool runnings' literally means, 'go in peace' or, 'safe journey'. A useful salutation at the end of a text message, 'cool runnings' may be considered as a synonym of 'stay black'. Several bona fide sources credit first usage as a salutation in text messages, to the urban legend Leeds Dr Rudeboy.

I like it. Go in peace or safe journey ...is very fitting to running. It could also be a synomyn for "stay cool" or "stay blue and lemon"   .

CoolRunnings ....Coolrunners.

Edited by iRonnie, 07 June 2011 - 05:49 PM.

[cakeboy]

I like the fact it's uncool...most of us are so uncool we're kind of cool.. The colours stand out and you can see a CR coming for miles. I remember once running the baroassa half and seeing Itsfunathebackofthepack from about 3kms away on the other side of the 7km loop through a thousand grapevines.  only CR blue and lemon can stand out like that...and maybe the Dutch national team orange...

I also once saw old CR member SouthAustralian in full CR regalia: shorts, hat and t-shirt....jimmeny cricket!!      ....I'm almost over the shock...

[Ponytail]

rohan, on 06 June 2011 - 12:13 PM, said:

I don't know about "loitering", maybe they were just waiting for you to stop chatting to someone else before introducing themselves... or maybe you are just paranoid?
I do  reckon that wearing the gear does give an ok for others who frequent CR to say howdy though, and that's a good thing.

I will admit to wearing the gear less. Partially having more athletic clothing to choose from, but also that feeling that with CR being so much bigger now it possibly doesn't need the word put out so much, and also while once you'd know everyone on the site now you find there's many you don't know because you inhabit mostly different threads to them. It's kinda embarrassing when you meet someone with hundreds of posts that you've never noticed.

maybe it's the type of elitism referred to in Redback's post that has made many of us "newcomers" standoffish..we don't want to be perceived as the desperate fan who hang around in the background waiting to be recognised.  That said, after being on coolrunning for several months,  I finally realised there was running gear available for purchase, running gear which doesn't suit my needs and I had no idea it was a part of an identification process (I have seen many CRs who have known they will be fronting up for the same race and asked each other what they would be wearing.)  I love CR, but what I find very uncool (not that I am an authority on "cool") are these types who think they can set rules or norms that the rest of us should "run" by. I run to do my own thing and I will wear what I want to wear and loiter where I want to loiter because I dance to the beat of my drum.

I won't enter into whether it's cool or uncool to wear CR running gear, but I will say wear whatever makes you feel comfortable and not what meets the requirements of those who think they started this whole running thing!

Edited by ponytail, 07 June 2011 - 10:03 PM.

[Bellthorpe]

Huh?

[AndyP]

Someone's taking this thread too seriously.

[redbackrun]

AndyP, on 07 June 2011 - 11:18 PM, said:

Someone's taking this thread too seriously.

i didn't know it was you last year at Lake Manchester until i noticed you were wearing a very rarely seen Hawthorn guernsey.
if runners want to meet other CRs at races the best way is to wear the cap. I can turn up at a GH event & know a dozen CR's just from having the CR cap on as a newbie. We're a friendly bunch.

[AndyP]

redbackrun, on 08 June 2011 - 06:57 AM, said:

i didn't know it was you last year at Lake Manchester until i noticed you were wearing a very rarely seen Hawthorn guernsey.[/img]

With a CR cap and a Hawks jumper, I look very cool.  The jumper is another way for me to be recognised in the crowd of runners pre-race, as it's well known that I'm a fan.

[undercover brother]

AndyP, on 08 June 2011 - 09:05 AM, said:

With a CR cap and a Hawks jumper, I look very cool.

speaking of rules and norms; i think this combo should be compulsory!

[lactatehead]

Brick, on 07 June 2011 - 08:21 AM, said:

Really why?

I would of thought that it was the opposite.
Thinking about being cool would make you super cool, maybe even cold.

Hipsters, in their quest to be cool all end up conforming like sheep. This makes me think that you can only ever be cool if you never give being cool a second thought.

[Redback]

ponytail, on 07 June 2011 - 10:01 PM, said:

maybe it's the type of elitism referred to in Redback's post that has made many of us "newcomers" standoffish..

Sorry but that wasn't elitism. I don't think of myself as being better/more special/faster (def not faster!) than others. I used to wear CR gear for particular reasons, and those reasons are no longer relevant to me. Others can wear it all they like, doesn't worry me.
Having said that, I still don't get the whole thing of walking up to someone just because they wear a CR hat. I am a member of a large running club, and I wouldn't just go up and hang around others in a club singlet unless I knew them.

[rohan]

Redback, on 08 June 2011 - 11:31 AM, said:

Having said that, I still don't get the whole thing of walking up to someone just because they wear a CR hat.

CR is a place where people go to meet other runners.
Wearing the gear I reckon says you are someone happy to meet other runners.

Maybe there should be some "CR lurker" gear for those who like being associated with CR, but don't actually want to communicate.

[iRonnie]

lactatehead, on 08 June 2011 - 10:47 AM, said:

Hipsters, in their quest to be cool all end up conforming like sheep. This makes me think that you can only ever be cool if you never give being cool a second thought.

It must follow then, that,if you never give being cool a second thought because it will help you fit in with the other supposedly cool ones (neo-hipsters?) who you know to never give being cool a second thought, then you too are conforming like a main-stream journalist -oops, sorry, sheep.

CoolRunnings

Edited by iRonnie, 08 June 2011 - 11:59 AM.

[SMCRoadRaceSeries]

Redback, on 08 June 2011 - 11:31 AM, said:

Having said that, I still don't get the whole thing of walking up to someone just because they wear a CR hat. I am a member of a large running club, and I wouldn't just go up and hang around others in a club singlet unless I knew them.

I agree with rohan, people don't wear the CR hat because its is a fashion statement, they do so because they actually want to see what other CR's there are. If you didn't wear it at some stage you would not have some of the associations you now have.
And yes, when you see runners from your club at a distant race, you are entitled to hang out with them, it is almost expected. Whether it progresses further than that is up to both parties, but that is a common factor that brings them together. That is one of the very reasons for having club colours. In fact some clubs take their tents to races to encourage 'hanging out'.

If I go up to Macleay mara this weekend wearing my SMC singlet, are you saying that someone else from SMC- whether wearing singlet or not- should not come and introduce themselves or ask about SMC?
I don't know about your 'club' - I only know of one 'large' running club in Sydney btw- but if an SMC runner wears a singlet and therefore 'represents' the club in public, it would be frowned upon if they didn't welcome any 'hanger on'.

cheers

[maryclaire]

rohan, on 08 June 2011 - 11:45 AM, said:

CR is a place where people go to meet other runners.
Wearing the gear I reckon says you are someone happy to meet other runners.

agree.  I do not belong to a running club - however would think that if I did and I saw someone else in the same club shirt, I would be inclined to start up a conversation with them as it has already been established that there is some common ground.  

Similarly, in other areas of life where there are common elements, it is human nature to start up a conversation.  eg it is very common for pram-pushing mothers to talk to other mothers about their babies of similar ages etc.  

As for the demise of CR gear, I have also noticed this.  It seemed to be all the rage when I signed up in 2008.  Yet I will now see other CRs at fun runs who choose not to wear it - myself often included.  Not sure why.  I can't comment on coolness or otherwise as I simply do not have "it" - just ask my 18 y.o. son.

[rohan]

maryclaire, on 08 June 2011 - 12:08 PM, said:

I simply do not have "it" - just ask my 18 y.o. son.

yeah but what would 18 year olds know about cool. probably has his undies showing and his jeans falling down...

which bring up the whole discussion of different types of cool...  more complex than just cool or not-cool.

[SirPlod]

rohan, on 08 June 2011 - 12:50 PM, said:

yeah but what would 18 year olds know about cool. probably has his undies showing and his jeans falling down...

I look at the ridiculous things that teenagers wear and wonder how on earth they can think they're cool... ...and then I think about the ridiculous things I used to wear when I was a teenager, and wonder how on earth I could have thought I was cool...

[Peterhorse]

SMCRoadRaceSeries, on 08 June 2011 - 12:06 PM, said:

I agree with rohan, people don't wear the CR hat because its is a fashion statement, they do so because they actually want to see what other CR's there are. If you didn't wear it at some stage you would not have some of the associations you now have.
...

Although the bright blue and yellow is a little sparse up our way, I still remember being blown away by the sea of CR caps and singlets when i ventured down to the Central Coast half a few years ago.... at a guess it was about 150+ out of an event of 400+???!!! Something like that ratio anyway.  As the only Qld'er there on the day, it was certainly good to be welcomed by others, including the person currently know as SMCRoadRaceSeries :-) who had given me heaps of good advice to 1000 beigginer questions i asked on CR prior to meetiing him.

It was this small but crazy CR cheer squad at GC Mara in 2005, where i did the 10k, that was sooo enthusiasitc i just had to search for Cool Running and see what it was all about. I hope we don't lose that supportive thrust, even if we are all a bit shy and leaving our gear off.

[lactatehead]

iRonnie, on 08 June 2011 - 11:55 AM, said:

It must follow then, that,if you never give being cool a second thought because it will help you fit in with the other supposedly cool ones (neo-hipsters?) who you know to never give being cool a second thought, then you too are conforming like a main-stream journalist -oops, sorry, sheep.

CoolRunnings

No, if you want to fit in with other cool people you are a "try hard" which, according to my 16 yr old daughter is the worse crime of all.
I do not think that a genuinely cool person would ever be part of a group.

Edited by lactatehead, 08 June 2011 - 02:09 PM.

[Davo]

Redback, on 08 June 2011 - 11:31 AM, said:

I am a member of a large running club, and I wouldn't just go up and hang around others in a club singlet unless I knew them.

How else would you get to know them, then?
Would you wait for a third party to introduce you?

[iRonnie]

lactatehead, on 08 June 2011 - 02:04 PM, said:

No, if you want to fit in with other cool people you are a "try hard" which, according to my 16 yr old daughter is the worse crime of all.
I do not think that a genuinely cool person would ever be part of a group.

Why you say "no"?  I was more or less saying what you had said.

You could also say that if you avoid being in any groups to be cool then you are also being a try hard.

I mean Al barr is in the group Dropkick Murphys; Roy Orbison (the coolest of all) was in teh Travelling Wilburys; Tim Armstrong in Rancid; Lars Friedrichson is in a few bands; Mick Thomas in WPA; Joey Ramone in Ramones; Rob Hirst in Midnight Oil; Mark Seymour in Hunters and Collectors; Bruce Springsteen in EStreet Band; a certain CR in teh Bellthorpe Barber Quartet (he's gone solo); Mike Ness from Social Distortion; Ozzy ...Black Sabbath... and so on and on. Groups can be good.

Then there is Johnny Rotten.  I mention him because he more or less said that if you join a political party, religion or lobby group you sell yourself out. Is that what you were getting at LT?

I think all this is mute by the way.  As I mentioned above, the word "coolrunning" is more to do with the salutation "have a  safe journey" than being cool.  Mind you, if that is the case and it is to do with "coolrunnings" or "have a safe journey" that would be really sweet - cool.

The thing is, I, and most of the coolrunners I know, could wear a zillion layers of CR gear or cool clothes and still be proper dickheads in the eyes of the dedicated followers of fashion and their cool police.

That reminds me. I was walking through Chermside Shopping Centre one day. I over heard a woman's voice: "Did you see?", she spluttered in disgust, "He had sneakers on with black jeans."  How embarrassment.  Here I am thinking I was so cool ... oh wait a minute, I was just trying to keep up with some exuberant shoppers in my mob.

Edited by iRonnie, 08 June 2011 - 04:05 PM.

[lactatehead]

Ronnie,

I meant those aspiring to be part of a group rather than participating in one. Sure, artists are often thrown into groups but the coolest ones tend to get kicked out of them. The most famous surrealist painter (Dali) was never really part of the movement. Same goes for Pissarro, Corot, Gauguin etc, none of them were really part of the groups they were associated with.
I do not think any real artist wants to be constrained by a set of arbitrary rules. Great musicians need to have other musicians around them but they are never going to sign up to their rules.
You might find one or two interesting people living in some trendy inner city areas but most of them are just desperate for approval from a bunch of equally uninteresting people.

[iRonnie]

lactatehead, on 08 June 2011 - 04:50 PM, said:

Ronnie,

I meant those aspiring to be part of a group rather than participating in one. Sure, artists are often thrown into groups but the coolest ones tend to get kicked out of them. The most famous surrealist painter (Dali) was never really part of the movement. Same goes for Pissarro, Corot, Gauguin etc, none of them were really part of the groups they were associated with.
I do not think any real artist wants to be constrained by a set of arbitrary rules. Great musicians need to have other musicians around them but they are never going to sign up to their rules.
You might find one or two interesting people living in some trendy inner city areas but most of them are just desperate for approval from a bunch of equally uninteresting people.

Some of the best  "real artists" learn the rules back to front (they are not arbitrary) and then push from the confines of genre using that knowledge. Other artists are just magic and because of their ignorance are not confined by prior knowledge.

  The musicians thing was just analogy.  You could apply that thinking to elite distance runners too. Lydiard had his groups. Nothing trendy in those days (but it did catch on, as all truly cool ideas do). I can't see anything uncool with a younster aspiring to be in such a  group.  Make the grade - so to speak. For some having that network or group is great. I guess it is all subjective. Some groups of people that the wider community regard as cool I find boring - nay repulsive.  Some groups that the wider community find repulsive I get on well with. That's life.

Edited by iRonnie, 08 June 2011 - 06:12 PM.

[russell2pi]

On the gear... I'd say it's to do with the growth in the popularity of the site and of the internet in general.   With a bigger size and less naivety (or greater cynicism!) of members, it's only natural that people will be more wary of putting themselves "out there" in person.

Another forum I'm on has overcome these difficulties by having a really positive culture, fostered by the site founders and mods, that is cemented a few times a year with face-to-face meet-ups. In between times it's helped along with some extraordinarily generous acts of good faith, or more like leaps of faith-- like equipment being sent for free to newbies or experienced members taking newbies out for 1 on 1 tuition. At the big get-togethers, sometimes there's name tags worn at these things and sometimes not -- seeing as everyone there is from the forum, the expectation is that face-to-face strangers introduce themselves and have a bit of a chat. After all that's what they're there for.

This is unlike a runner at a big event in CR gear amidst zillions of people not in CR gear-- are they advertising that they are open to say hi to and show the ropes to the newbie who is at the event alone and knows no-one? Or are they going to resent you as a "hanger-on", "try-hard" or "wannabe"?

Maybe this could work a bit with CR if there were some more CR events where everyone in attendance was associated with CR in some way.   I guess the FatAsses etc are like that?

[lorrents]

I reckon its a great logo & design for an automotive coolant.  

[maryclaire]

rohan, on 08 June 2011 - 12:50 PM, said:

probably has his undies showing and his jeans falling down...

clearly you've seen my son hanging around town.  Next time you see him, please tell him his mother said to wear a belt wtih those jeans and at least make sure the undies are clean.

[seris]

How can this be uncool? A bunch of runners of all ability cheering on a slower runner at Melbourne Marathon in 2008. To think of all the great friends I have from this website is all the inspiration I need.

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[GrizzlyBear]

I agree Seris, especially as one of those slower runners at that event!

And I distinctly remember them at the 40km mark. It was what kept me going from 38km onwards!! The cheers they gave me got me home.

As for the gear, I race in a CR cap as I know that:

1. People will talk to me as I run; and
2. I will hear "Go CR" as I run which does give me encouragement.

And Maryclaire, I always run with clean undies!!

Dave

[SirPlod]

seris, on 08 June 2011 - 07:16 PM, said:

How can this be uncool? A bunch of runners of all ability cheering on a slower runner at Melbourne Marathon in 2008. To think of all the great friends I have from this website is all the inspiration I need.

That's pretty damn cool.

[Tuttle]

Peterhorse, on 08 June 2011 - 01:36 PM, said:

It was this small but crazy CR cheer squad at GC Mara in 2005, where i did the 10k, that was sooo enthusiasitc i just had to search for Cool Running and see what it was all about. I hope we don't lose that supportive thrust, even if we are all a bit shy and leaving our gear off.

You sure it wasn't a bunch of Swedish backpackers?

[iRonnie]

I often see Tuttle out training (he seldom sees me) and he  usually  has his CR hat on.   I recall the first time was rather spooky.  Picture this. I was  training on a cricket oval, which, like most ovals, had been cut and filled to make it level.  On the western end there was a four to six foot drop off the embankment down to a cement path.  Behind that - dense bush.

So I am   warming up on the eastern side  and something catches my eye in the distance.   All can I see is this  blue and lemon thing  bobbing along on western edge of the oval.   At first I thought it a ball.  Couldn’t see anyone around though, so I stopped my run throughs to check it out.  It kept bobbing along the horizon.  It did so for about  50m.

I rubbed my eyes and squinted to get a better look.  It became obvious that it was a CR hat and soon Tuttle’s  crop of hair  gave the game away. Tuttle was on the path but it looked just like the CR hat was eerily bobbing along by itself  on the oval’s horizon.  Then it looked just like a bodiless(or very short)  CoolRunner running around the edge of the oval..  Once I worked it out, I breathed a sigh of relief and thought: “Huh,   I am not nuts after all”.

Too much CR can make you crazy.

Classic photo Seris.

Edited by iRonnie, 09 June 2011 - 10:41 AM.

[lactatehead]

iRonnie, on 08 June 2011 - 06:00 PM, said:

Some of the best  "real artists" learn the rules back to front (they are not arbitrary) and then push from the confines of genre using that knowledge.

I am not talking about the rules of the craft. I am talking about the subtle unspoken rules created by groups which give them a sense of superiority.

I dont know what you mean by "real artists" but I am from a long line of painters and I have supported a family as an artist for 25 years so I`d like to think that I am included in that definition. All the other professional artists I know all seem to work alone and none of them live in any of those trendy suburbs. The joke is, when I am sitting there in Northcote and people are all making derogatory remarks about the people who live out in the burbs, I think hang on a minute, you are all salaried employees with a degree, private school education and total uniformity in all of your political opinions. Take any one of those individuals on their own and you couldn`t meet a nicer person, put them into a group and its a different story.

[iRonnie]

lactatehead, on 08 June 2011 - 04:50 PM, said:

...
I do not think any real artist wants to be constrained by a set of arbitrary rules. Great musicians need to have other musicians around them but they are never going to sign up to their rules.

...

I think the word "attitude", or even "prejudices",would better explain your position. This more so in the second sentence.  Having said that, "subtle unspoken rules" covers it.

lactatehead, on 09 June 2011 - 10:55 AM, said:

I am not talking about the rules of the craft. I am talking about the subtle unspoken rules created by groups which give them a sense of superiority.I dont know what you mean by "real artists" ......

Thanks for clarifying that.
I only used the word "real artists" because you did. I also see writers and musicians as artists.
For me, real artists, among other things, know the rules but are not restrained by those rules.  They don't bow to rules or remain in a genre to be popular. They are, within reason, true to themselves - not the pressure of others (those arbitrary rules). We seem to be on teh same page.  Good people, whether artists or not, have a humble attitude.  Yes some groups, for no other reason than that "sense of superiority" you mention, don't respect other groups and individuals.
  That is pretty crook.

I think any artist who gets too caught up in group thinking and attitudes risks losing his or her individuality.

Edited by iRonnie, 09 June 2011 - 11:55 AM.