Today one of my students noticed a picture I have on the mantel of myself running in a race (the Lewis and Clark). He asked, “Oh, did you run in a race?”
I said, yes, I ran in a half-marathon in the fall.
He thought about that for a bit, and then asked “Did you win?”
When I told him, no, I didn’t…he looked disappointed.
He asked what place I finished. I told him I didn’t remember, that there were over 5000 people, that I was somewhere in the middle, maybe close to 3000th (I don’t remember!). I think I blew his mind.
But I loved it: “Did you win?” No one else has asked me that!
This is why I teach.
Great post. I suppose you could have just told him you beat 2000 people in a race and left it at that. 🙂 Thanks for teaching!
I went to a new run group this week and somehow it came up that I write a blog. The first thing one of the girls asked me was, “Do you have a lot of followers?” I don’t know why, but it struck me as a rather direct question. And your story about the boy asking if you won reminded me of this girl.