ath·lete noun \ˈath-ˌlēt, ÷ˈa-thə-ˌlēt\ VS. non-athlete noun\ nōn ath-ˌlēt, ÷ˈa-thə-ˌlēt\

ath·lete     noun \ˈath-ˌlēt, ÷ˈa-thə-ˌlēt\

: a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina

 non-athlete noun\ nōn ath-ˌlēt, ÷ˈa-thə-ˌlēt\

: a person who is not an athlete

I have been pondering these words as I have been cruising the blogs and website. Brian MacKenzie, who everybody is probably wondering if I have a man crush on, talks about training an athlete or when referring the someone who he is training as an athlete. I have even had a co-worker, the same one who gently pushed or shoved (take your pick)  me into running, tell me I have to eat like an athlete on run day so I have the energy to finish the run. Again I have pondered this...am I an athlete?

By trade I am a Marine Science Tech., and for those not in the know, I don't do any type of marine science. It's just the name of the Rate in the Coast Guard. But I do enforce environmental regulation and that means I interpret law. I get all dirty in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations where terms like "Discharge" and "Release" have two very different meanings. To the point that two different laws are brought into play and whether you can bring criminal proceedings to the table. Two words, huge implications. Why tell you this? Just to drive the point home about how much I love to analyze verbiage, and to bring out my inner nerd. He needs to get out every once in awhile or things get rough. Okay, on to the point.  Athlete...to be or not to be? The definition "a person who is trained or skilled..." so let break this down, am I skilled? No, I am not skilled; if you have ever seen me run you would agree. My form is not good and I do not run very efficiently.  Remember, I am the intoxicated orangutan. Next question...am I trained? Now this I have been taught and I am currently studying to be better. I am trying to reshape my form to Pose running, while I have not be formally trained by a form coach I have read up on it and have watched many videos and I am currently training myself to run this way. So now comes in the timing...if you are in the process of being trained or in training are you an athlete? Are the players in the JV (Junior Varsity) Football athletes? would you call them trained or skilled. They practice daily to be great and to get to the Varsity level and then on to the next level and then the next level. It really never ends, they are always training to be better and always training to get to the next level.

So I have established that I am in training, this in itself does not make one an athlete.  You can train in chess but are you an athlete? Lets move on.  Next part of the definition is "... exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina." Well, I do not think you will get an argument that running or Crossfit meet this qualification. 

So conclusion: is this intoxicated orangutan-esk person an athlete...drum roll...Yes. What?!  Yes, the answer is Yes. Am I working on it? Yes. I am putting forth the effort? Yes. Do I want greatness? Yes. Am I skilled? Working on it. Am I trained? ...ish...working on it. I ask advice from people who are and I read a lot about it. Knowledge is power but the application of knowledge is more powerful by far. So my crossfit WOD today was:

7 rounds 

7 pull ups

14 burpees 

21squats

did it in 22 minutes...and it sucked. Lets see if i can do it better next week. I'll get better, I'll get faster. That is what defines an athlete...

...maybe dictionary.com needs to change their definition.