Title: Time Goal

General Information about Item:

• Sympathetic Magic Superstition
• Language: English
• Origin: United States
• Informant: A.L.
• Date collected: 11/5/2021

Informant Data:

• A.L. is a male student from the class of 2024. He was born and raised in Herndon, Virginia, a city just outside Washington, DC. A.L. is part of the triathlon team at Dartmouth. Alex have done long distance running since he was 15.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Endurance sports such as triathlon involve a competition against others. But, perhaps more important than that, these sports are about competing with yourself. The objective of every race is to beat a time goal you set for yourself.
• Social Context: Not all athletes in the team perform this superstition but Alex said he tried it once and it worked so he kept doing it ever since.

Item:

• During the week of a race, some athletes in the triathlon team will write their time goal for the race on a piece of paper and tape it to the wall in their rooms.

Associated files/pictures:

Transcript:

• “This is a superstition some of us do: we write down our time goal for the race and tape it to the wall because we will look at it every day and think “I have to beat this time”. It works for me.”

Informants Comments:

• A.L. said he considers this as a superstition but maybe also as an exercise for his mind. So not only it gives him some sort of good luck, but it also keeps him motivated.

Collector’s Comments:

• This is a great example of the obsession triathlon athletes have with getting better and better. I found this superstition very inspiring.

Collector’s Name:

• Pedro Campos

Tags:

• Superstition
• Dartmouth
• Triathlon
• Time goal