Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 29, 2016

Your stomach will always be ooshy.

I don’t get it. There must be some subtle connection between public speaking – an extremely common fear – and running a marathon which eludes me.

When your don’t have anxiety over a presentation, then you need to worry.

For common public speaking, yes.I’ve been doing volunteer teaching for a boating safety class for 20 years. The butterflies worried me for a while.Now I realize that if I loose the butterflies, I’ve lost my edge.I still get them, but now it’s reassuring.

Yeah, that’s a lame comparison. People are nervous before a marathon, but they aren’t hiding in the portas. And you are going to relieve yourself the same whether you’re nervous or not.

Join Toastmasters!

https://www.toastmasters.org/

You’ll learn how to make your butterflies fly in formation.

It’s only a lame comparison if you can’t relate. I get awful pre-race jitters and they involve many visits to the potties. I don’t get much of public-speaking anxiety. Your triggers may vary :)

AgewalkerRan my first marathon in 1976. Ran my first Boston 21 years later. I get the connection.jamesbachreevesWith precision aerobatics?

sorry nope

to steal a line from Bob the Squirrel….I’ve got butterflies in my stomach..I’m worried because I don’t remember swallowing any caterpillars.

As a marathoner, I do get the connection. Just as you will always be nervous before a marathon, no matter how many you do, you will always be nervous before public speaking, no matter how many times you do it. The port-a-potties reference is due to the fact the bodies natural reaction to being nervous is to have to go to the bathroom and/or having an upset stomach. And upset stomachs tend to make you have to go to the bathroom as well.

With an average of 30,000 runners & another 500,000 spectators that number seems woefully inadequate!

Do a little research — some of the biggest/most popular radio stars of the 30s and 40s suffered from horrendous stage fright. Gracie Allen was one of them.

Hard to compare the Boston Marathon to public speaking.

Right! As my communications instructing hubby said on his pamphlet “Don’t kill the butterflies!”