Good Enough Mother: Clearing The Air And The Water!
An Update On Volvic Water And The Tough Mudder Kerfuffle
And now, an update to something I wrote Thursday.
You can read the entire post here, but if you’re short on time, here is the upshot:
I was asked by Rosie Mattio PR the company representing Volvic Natural Spring Water , if I wanted to compete as part of their team in the New York Tough Mudder being held in Bethpage in late July. The Tough Mudder is a mud run with obstacles and it is HARD. In July there are two races, the full Mudder (10-12 miles and lots of obstacles) or the half Mudder (5 miles plus obstacles).
As part owner of LadimaxSportsFitness.com, a women’s fitness company and someone who leads a very active lifestyle, I jumped at the chance! When I asked if they would allow me to run the half, since it would be my first Mudder, Daniela, the PR lady came back and said that, they only had a few tickets left and that “the team” had decided to go with someone who could complete the race.
Wait. What?
I said nothing about not being able to complete the race; I said I was scared. There are a lot of things that scare me that I do anyway.
Like, oh I don’t know.. RAISING TEENAGERS!
Yeah. That.
Anyway, I ended up writing about my experience with this PR company and Volvic Natural Spring Water.
And it struck a chord with a LOT of women like me. Real women who come in all ages, shapes and sizes and who, despite illness, job loss, life struggle and so on, still know they owe it to themselves to be the best they can be.
My mastectomy scars
(photo credit: Chuck Meez)
I can assure you, I know about hard things.
This morning, I received an email from Rosie Mattio, the woman who owns the PR agency that reached out, then rescinded the offer to race as part of the Volvic team. She wanted to talk and I wanted to hear what she had to say.
Related: Single Mom Slice of Life: Self-Esteem Showdown
Now I’m not going give you a blow-by-blow of the conversation but what I will say is that I believe Rosie was genuinely sorry for the actions of her agency. While she herself did not send the emails, she, as any good businesswoman knows, when your name is over the door, everything that happens on your watch is something you take responsibility for.
And so she did.
As it turns out, Daniela, my point of contact at her agency and Volvic representatives are the ones who made up “the team” that put me on ice.
Riiiiiight.
So the water company that encourages you to find your inner volcano, to dig really deep, to challenge yourself and do scary things decided I wasn’t going to be able to complete the race.
That took guts.
And I have mad respect for that.
As for Volvic, perhaps they should know the Tough Mudder motto, which says in part:
The Tough Mudder Pledge
And then sentence after that?
“I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.”
This is not about “completing the race”. This is about giving it your best. It’s not about looking good; it’s about being as good as you can be.
Before I sign off I (hopefully never to speak of Volvic Natural Spring Water or jaw-dropping behavior by PR people) I want to leave you with this:
I am not afraid.
You see, when you’re a grown-ass woman and so much in your carefully-crafted life is taken from you, there is one more thing that goes with it…
FEAR.
I am not afraid to compete in a Tough Mudder or similar competitions.
I am not afraid to ask pointed questions and keep asking until I get answers.
I am not afraid to use my platform, the one that I built, to draw attention to behavior that should wither and wilt under the white, hot spotlight.
And I sure as shit, am not afraid to stand up for myself. Because no one believes in me as much as I believe in myself.
If bridges are burned because of any of those things I listed above, I will swim.
That, you can count on.
