An ethical dilemma

El Cabrero is not one to shy away from deep philosophical issues or ethical dilemmas. Especially if they involve profound questions, such as under what conditions is a person allowed to wear a tee shirt from an endurance event, a topic I've blogged about more than once.

To start with, there is the basic proposition that it is an act of arrogance and hubris to wear a tee shirt for an event before one actually completes it. It's like the same point from Herodotus' Histories where he tells the story of Solon's maxim of calling no one happy until you have seen their last hours.

Then there is the proposition that one does not deserve to wear the tee shirt of a race one began but didn't finish. Once, shortly after having heart surgery, I signed up for a triathlon. The water in Summit Lake was ice cold (to me anyway) and I couldn't breathe and didn't finish. I never wore the shirt.

Circumstances have recently forced me to grapple with another tee shirt dilemma. I was planning on running a 15K trail run this weekend but was stranded by the miseries of air travel. In this case, the Spousal Unit picked up my package thinking I'd be there in time.

I'm thinking that since I probably would have finished it if Delta had gotten me home on the right day, even if it meant crawling across the finish line on bloody stumps, I have the ethical right to wear the shirt, as long as I complete a 15K at some point.

Judges?

PAUL RYAN GETS SCHOOLED ON POVERTY here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Stand back, y'all. I feel the need to rant about an urgent social justice issue, one that came up in a conversation with the Spousal Unit. To wit, tee shirts for endurance events. I'm not talking about 5Ks or 10ks. I'm talking about going a bit farther, say from 15ks to marathons.

Take a look at the shirt pictured above from a trail run this summer and you will understand this gross injustice. First, let me say that the race was great, well organized and all that. I'd do it again. But did you notice the middle of the shirt? The whole 10/4 thing?!

What the hell?!

Sorry, but there is a huge qualitative difference between capering through 4 miles of trails versus slogging through 10, including some evil hills the other guys never saw. The 4 milers should get their own shirt so that those of us dedicated or dumb enough to run 2.5 times farther will not be confused with them.

Just saying.

The only thing worse than that is a a marathon shirt with small print. I mean, jeez, the whole point of a marathon is to be able to brag about it once you've done it. The whole point of a marathon shirt is to brag to every literate person you run across whether you know them or speak to them or not. If the print is so small that you can't even make out the word "marathon," you might as well have stayed on the couch eating potato chips and drinking beer instead of doing the same thing after running really far.

I have spoken.

MORE BAD STUFF about the Ryan budget from Paul Krugman here.

EVEN MORE BAD STUFF about the same from Dean Baker here.

ODE TO (GORILLA) JOY here.