original essay 1

Timothy Judge


Essay #1


The main reason I chose the Marathon Sports as my site is because I am a person who obviously goes there quite a bit and purchases the merchandise that they offer. Along with that, it’s a place I just enjoy visiting very much because it’s a place that promotes one of the things that I believe most in and that’s physical fitness. Thus, a thesis statement for what I could try to explain or develop on my reason for choosing Marathon might be that that I am apart of the culture of people that make that place what it is and that it is a place that shapes who I am. I feel that is my best choice since it ‘s changed who I am indirectly since I’ve been going there for almost 3 years now.
The overall culture of Marathon Sports that I know of is that of an average person of either gender and any age that enjoys running basically. The specifics of how much they run or how dedicated they are and what they look for in the store varies from just moderate enough to be more active than the average person or near professional status where they know exactly what to get and have top of the line gear. More often then not, it’s a combination of either HS athletes in the area looking for track spikes, like myself at the time I started going, and running or racing shoes for cross country. If it isn’t young athletes in school looking for spikes or trainers then it’s the middle aged group of people than can range from mid 30’s all the way into mid 70’s that are either looking for trainers to get certain miles in a week or just a better shoe to walk around in.
It would be fairly reasonable to say that I am apart of this culture because I am like soo many other people that are apart of it there. I have similar upbringings and social status along with the same reason for being at the store and doing the same types of activities as the others. If I wanted to get more in depth, I could say I also share the same values of the people there as employees and customers based on running and fitness as a way to better a person in many ways more than in the physical sense. To improve someone’s personality traits through running or things about themselves such as their optimism and their willingness to succeed in life. All other basic aspects of social life, I feel that I share many of the same similarities as many others do. I’m a white male as many other patrons are along with things like I’m single or I go to school and compete or that we have many similar outlooks on life based on running and track.
The other reason I chose Marathon Sports as my site to research is that there are some things that I don’t know about it even though it’s one of my highest regarded places to visit and purchase sports wear from. Something that’s a possibility is that the store very well might not have been what it is like today when it started out a few years ago; back in 2005 I think is the founding year. Inventory might’ve been smaller or arranged differently throughout the store and the selection of it might have been different. The same amount of people who currently go to the store very well could not have been the same number when it started out. Could’ve been that unknown where half of the customer base was there originally to act as it’s population. Even the same type of people might be something that’s changed over time. Taking into account the type of recreational runners that were the only people that went there rather than serious runners who compete in races and high school to college athletes looking for gear to compete in that area as well.
Since I’m already familiar with this location and very passionate about what it’s based on, it would seem that those aspects would somewhat affect my ability to observe and report on the area. To be as fair and honest though, I believe that won’t be the case because there’s nothing negative for me to report about the store in a way that is obvious to me so I won’t need to have a biased opinion of it. I will try to praise it where praise is needed or deserved but if there are any shortcomings on it’s part then I will report on those as well.