The Truth As I See It

One thing about the internet is you can remain as anonymous or famous as you want. You can post all of your personal information (not recommended) including your real name or you can come up with a screen name. You can tell the everyone all kinds of things about yourself or create a world/persona that exists only in your mind.

I encountered one of the latter type individuals the other day. How do I know? They used their real name and posted a picture; it was an individual I used to work with...BUT they seemed to have stated some things that, well, let's just say the individual in question handled the truth a little carelessly.

It was one of those "X number of things people don't know about me" blogs where you divulge all kinds of secrets or unknown facts about yourself. You know the stuff: "I'm scared of being buried alive." "I have six toes on my right foot." "I love chocolate sauce on spinach." One of the unknown facts this person posted was--and I'm not making this up--was:

At age 12 I could run the mile barefoot in 4 minutes...

Just for the record, Roger Bannister first broke the four-minute-mile barrier 1954. Since that time, the record has been broken several times by male runners. The current record is held by Hicham El Guerrouj, who set a time of 3 minutes 43.13 seconds in Rome in 1999. According to Wikipedia: "No woman has yet run a four-minute mile: the current women's record holder is retired Russian Svetlana Masterkova, with a time of 4 minutes 12.56 seconds." A New York Times article on January 21, 2001 states:

Alan Webb of Virginia became the first high school competitor to run a sub-four-minute mile indoors and the first to do so anywhere since 1967 when he clocked 3 minutes 59.86 seconds yesterday at the New Balance Track and Field Games at the Armory Track and Field Center. (Source)

So...let's put the previously mentioned blogger's comments into perspective. He/she claims to have run a record breaking distance while IN JUNIOR HIGH and yet, reliable sources state that feat was not accomplished by ANYONE under 21 until 2001. I'm thinking a four-minute-mile by a 12 year old would be pretty big news in the sports world, but I don't find anything, anywhere supporting his/her claim. Maybe there was some catostrophic world event the day of his/her record breaking accomplishment and it was simply pushed to the back pages of the news.

I read the blog and immediately thought of the following scene from a recent re-run of Sienfeld where George has purchased a very obvious hair piece, which he is convinced looks quite natural. In the scene, George and Jerry are talking about George's upcoming blind date and the conversation went something like this:

George: We talked on the phone for over an hour.
Jerry: Did you describe yourself to her?
George: Yes, I did.
Jerry: Did you tell her the truth?
George: Yes, I did.
Jerry: As you see it?
George: Yes...as I see it.

I guess some people see things or remember things quite differently from reality. Oh, the picture at the right? That's me after a workout at the gym...at least that's how I see it.