General information about item:

• Tradition/superstition/ritual
• Language: English
• Country of origin: United States
• Informant: BG
• Date collected: 11/6/2021

Informant Data:

• BG is a current senior at Dartmouth College in the graduating class of 2022. She is originally from Washington State and currently resides in Hanover, New Hampshire. She is a Government and Human Centered Design major at Dartmouth. BG ran the 800, 1500 and 3000 for track, and competed in 5ks and 6ks for cross country. 

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Athletes often repeat specific superstitious or traditions before big races in order to control what factors they are able to in the face of competition uncertainty. For many athletes, their food becomes part of these superstitions. Often this means athletes will repeat the same pre-race meals in hopes of ensuring they have a successful competition.
• Social Context: Many of the track athletes I interviewed told me about food superstitions they have before races. I noticed that this trend tends to start when the athlete has a successful competition. That athlete will then try and copy everything they did in preparation for their successful race, down to specific details such as the food they ate prior.

Item: “ […] I’m super particular about eating and I always stop drinking an hour before race time. For a while, I always used to eat a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich before I raced. Also, for a brief stint I would always have burger king chicken and fries the night before a race. This started because I would beat my personal record by a ton every time I ate this meal, so it just became a habit.”

Associate file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript (description of photo):

• Photo of the described Jimmy Dean Breakfast sandwiched eaten as a pre-race ritual.

Informant’s Comments

• “I am not exactly sure how that one [the breakfast sandwich] started, but I am sure I continued doing it because I was seeing positive race results and making a subconscious correlation in my mind. ”

Collector’s Comments:

• Many of my informants followed similar superstitious rituals surrounding their pre-race meals. Often, when athletes see positive race results, they will do their best to repeat all the steps that brought them those results. This includes eating habits.

Collector’s Name: Anna Brause

Tags/Keywords:

• Dartmouth
• Track/XC
• Superstition/ritual
• Pre-race food