Update to yesterday's post: Following an investigation by NBC, the show's producer and the contestant apologized for the 'inaccuracy'.

While the contestant's claim that he went back and ran the three miles reminds me of a kid who claims he put the cookies back in the jar, I remind myself that it really just doesn't matter. They've owned up to the wrong, and it's not worth the effort to carry this further.

I'll admit, the NBC show, "Biggest Loser" sucks me in. In last night's episode, one of the characters was voted out of fat camp, and the segment ended with him and his wife running a marathon. NBC claimed, in voicover narration and in text onscreen, that he completed the marathon in 3:53.  The cameras show them crossing the finish line (at 5:53) and accepting their finishers' medals, giving their lines about what an accomplishment it was.

It didn't happen.

Two runners who were there report otherwise:
http://melancholysmile.blogspot.com/2009/02/we-did-it.html
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2009/02/the-biggest-los.html
http://www.runningroom.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?p=267422&sid=1a819de120cb596d6878c015efc28c60&PHPSESSID=cc06fb6f4e71d874c0da164477ff2b1f
http://www.ontri.net/message.php?reply=102446&forum=0

It's a big deal because running a marathon is a fucking big deal. Some of us train our asses off, push ourselves harder, to go a few miles farther, with the blisters and the aches and the commitment -- and this guy gets a fucking RIDE through part of the course? And that's supposed to be okay just because, "hey, it's only TV"?

Okay, so 'reality TV' is nothing more than vapid entertainment, with no more ethics or morality than "Days of Our Lives" or "Fox News", BUT that fool stepped into Real Life and that's where he cheated. He did not run 26.2 miles yet he accepted a finishers' medal and talked about his 'accomplishment'. He didn't cheat on TV, he cheated in real life.

The guy lost 100 pounds in 8 weeks on the show. He can be proud of that. But now he's out in the real world with the rest of us, he has shown himself to be a fool, a tool, and dishonorable.

(via http://trollcatz.livejournal.com/)

From an objective distance, all us humans look and act the same. We’re not. We're individually unique. Our backgrounds, our life experiences, our joy, our pain -- all unique.  Like snowflakes. We’re also unique in how we react to stress/change/crisis/trauma. Experiences that destroy one person might make another scoff, and a challenge that you handled without difficulty last month might shatter you today. (I'm pondering psychological pain, though yeah, physical pain usually comes along for the ride.)

There's no gain in sitting around playing Pain Poker. "My pain is way worse than your pain," etc. Useless. The ‘value’ of pain is relative to the person experiencing it. Likewise, ‘victimhood’ is no place to live. As Bear says, the triggers and downstream effects get boring. As Chiron says, identifying too strongly as a victim leaves one vulnerable to being victimized again*. Yeah. I so do not want that.

I see no benefit in wearing the label of victim or survivor. It’s a lens through which others filter my behavior; a conclusion to which they leap without consideration of alternatives. I’d rather be normal, thank you. On the other hand, sometimes this shit still hurts.

I’m going to substitute “baggage” for all the pain, suffering, trauma, triggers, self-hate, etc. that endlessly wear us down. Certainly it’s a familiar term.

I look for ways that others handle their baggage, in hopes that I can (a) better shed my own, (b) better understand and be more mindful of other people’s triggers, and (c) write better. Therefore, I lurk, read, and think. I talk to myself a lot while I walk the dog. I doubtless make less sense here.

I live about 3 hours from anything resembling snow. Today I feel like a snowflake -- fragile, cold, and isolated. Like a snowflake, I know that my structure is strong and adaptable.