After all these years do you regret devoting so much time and energy to running?

Sunday nights... tough for me lately. It's my long run, and it isn't exactly conducive to the family be gone for 2+ hours. I agree with this. I certainly have no regrets for my family. I was intended to be the husband/father that I am. I have it good - I want it to be even better (primarily by my being better).

I work a lot. Not rich, but enough to allow my wife to stay home. Enough to not worry about a lot of stuff that many people do have to worry about. I have fair prospects and have wondered if I stopped running and poured that energy into work, where would it take me. But, I am not passionate about my work (I fake it). I can't see that I am that passionate about anything outside family/running.

I have never run fast, but I still dream/scheme. It's hard to fit it in (or at least the amount that I want) - always juggling, wondering if I am allocating time correctly. But, I have no regrets whatsoever, and I'm not looking back. I was made to be runner, you see... even if I haven't ever run fast. When I look back, I am pretty sure that given all the factors, I will have trained as well as I could... And it will be one of just a few things that I'll be able to say that I did my best. The journey is great.

I'll be leaving in a coupla minutes to do my weekly 12-2AM run. Getting out the door can be hard on occasion, and every once in a while I wonder wtf am I doing? My neighbors/co-workers/friends would all think I'm imbalanced or extremely stupid to do what I do (especially if they knew how much I thought about it) - I'll never be compensated financially for the time/effort spent. But I KNOW that to me, it's living. I can't explain it, but I was made a runner.

So.... no, I don't regret it, but rather, am thankful for it.

It's been over ten years but I still remember my perfectly even splits and my 1:20 second PR in the last 10K race of my college career. I ran a 33:38 at a meet at Notre Dame and I came in dead last! I was the slowest distance guy on my team...and it was the greatest race of my life. Dead last and my finest moment..0dd, huh? I can still remember the how much it meant to me then. It still means a lot now. Running is great sport.

Right now I am sitting in a cold dorm room, with the AC providing the only sound. The walls are white, the tile cold, and the mattress unpleasantly firm. To compund things, I have been injured, and am out of shape... This is quite possibly the lowest moment in my running life.

However, as I sit here, shivering in the cold (I will be going to bed after this post), I feel free. I am in a city without major parks, a town without trails. There is no escape from the traffic lights or exhaust pipes, less the local golf courses, which routinely tell me that I can and will be arrested for trespassing one day. However, I can still feel inside what running means to me. I can see the countryside, and watch as my legs spin beneath me, performing a task I cannot possibly comprehend. It's like watching a movie, with my legs starring as the main characters.

I feel completely free in my institutionalized dorm room, partly because on my desktop I have a picture of the Flatirons in Boulder, in the summer, with flowers blooming. The location is important to me, and each person will have their own image. To me, it is beauty and freedom on my dektop. But when I think about running, I think about rolling up mountainsides, watching the path flow beneath me.

Do I regret running. Only while I cannot run. Maybe I feel jealous at what and where I have been. I know what it means to be free. Running provides me the opportunity to set my own rules, and live free of inhibition, even for a fleeting moment in time. It gives me what money and material things cannot. And for that I am thankful

Running is it's own reward.

JEH, are you jason hubbard?

I regret not trying harder in college XC, and taking too many years off of running after that. Running is for me is a great "life balancer", good for me, and cheaper than therapy. I know I will not be competitive, and that takes a huge burden off. It is a tough transition from competitive runner to recreational runner, but it sure beats not running. The times I have not been running at least a few days a week have been some of the worst periods in my life.

JEH, that's the best post yet on this thread.

I took up running for the first time in 1978, when I was a senior in college. I've never been as fast as the vast majority of you, but I am still trying to run hard and to be as fast as I can be. Now that my kids are older, I'm running more miles than I ever have (around 75 per week), and I'm enjoying them more than I ever have. It's not as important to me as my family and my job, but it's pretty darn close. And this is from a guy who has never broken 3 hours in the marathon (PR of 3:02:33, set in 2002).

Maybe I'm pathetic. But I don't think so. Running for me has never been about winning races. But neither has it just been about staying is shape. Instead, it has mostly been about great training runs with the guys and trying to do the best I can on race days. It has also been about being outside in what nature has to offer. The fact that it has kept me thin and young for my years is a side benefit.

I tried to find that "Runners" article that circulated here last spring, but the link doesn't seem to work any more. To me, that guy expressed better than I ever could what a lifetime of running should be all about.

No. However, If you did guess correctly, I probably wouldn't let you know.

Not a bad guess, though. From what little I know (married a girl from his cross team, likes Dr Pepper, about the same age, has the same the first and last name initials), I could see how you might arrive there. He has much better times and accomplishments than I, so that autimatically makes him a bastard, though (just kidding!!! sort of... no really).

Guest, are you Joe Vigil?

JEH wrote:

No. However, If you did guess correctly, I probably wouldn't let you know.

Not a bad guess, though. From what little I know (married a girl from his cross team, likes Dr Pepper, about the same age, has the same the first and last name initials), I could see how you might arrive there. He has much better times and accomplishments than I, so that autimatically makes him a bastard, though (just kidding!!! sort of... no really).

Guest, are you Joe Vigil?

No, but if you did guess correctly... :)

I saw reference to your Dr. Pepper addiction somewhere else on this board, and the age and initials kinda fit....but the writing style is all wrong, just thought I'd ask..

The following is a good essay on being a runner....

Tryon Creek. I have some training info that you may be interested in (I know this sounds ambiguous, but I assure you it is legitimate). If interested, e-mail me at

runjeh@yahoo.com

. (I suppose I would also have to extend this same invitation to your buddy, 3rd choice).

______________________________________________________

Anyway, the essay (written by Michael Selman - I don't know him).

Last Sunday, it was 18. Today it was 10 miles that felt effortless, but I would hardly call it an EASY 10. Even though it was easily done, nothing is easy. Not the first mile. Not the last mile. Nothing in between.

For 17 years, I've been running. Sometimes, it has been very consistent, and cyclically, it has been sporadic, or even nonexistent. At times, life got too busy. At times, life got too hard. At times, the body rebelled. But since April 16th, 1982, in one way or another, I have been a runner.

The first mile, way back when, was very difficult. One mile. It was all I could do. That distance, back then, involved total effort. I remember coming back in the house, and laying on the floor, almost unable to move. My body felt like one big heart, pounding away, almost uncontrollably. Whatever my maximum heart rate was, I know that I was there that day.

The next day, I didn't run. I hurt too much. My legs hurt. My back hurt. I didn't think what I had done the day before was good for me. I didn't think running was good for me. Sometimes you have to avoid the hurt to take care of yourself. Nothing wrong with that. So I didn't run that second day.

For the next three months, I ran on and off, a mile here, two miles there. By June, I could still only run 3 miles before I had to stop and walk. Nothing was easy. I was only 26 years old. I worked a physical job. I was thin. It shouldn't have been that hard.

The end of June, I entered my first 10K. Maybe it should have been a 5K, but that was not the distance of choice back then. I remember hitting the three mile point at 27 something, and then I had to walk. The next three miles were hard. Walk some, jog some, walk some more. Blisters on my feet that I would feel for the next few days. Aching muscles that would cause me to walk funny for the next few days. After the race, I didn't run for the next few days. But I did run again. It just didn't come easy.

The next month, I finally ran my first 10K without stopping to walk. Did it in under 50 minutes too. Not bad. I was improving. I was building endurance. I was gaining speed. By the end of 1982, I was running 10K in under 44 minutes, and 5K in under 21. But none of it came easy.

Over the years, running ebbed and flowed. I got faster, my long runs and races got longer, but it was not easy. Sometimes, I pushed too much, and as a result, I got slower, my runs got shorter, and I took time off from running.

A couple of years ago, I got hurt...bad. Running is a lot like life. There are days you are on top of the world, and there are days you can't even crawl out of bed. The most satisfying good times are the ones you work the hardest to accomplish, whether it is running or anything else. There is always a price to pay.

This morning, I did 10 miles. The miles flew by. Nothing hurt. All was well with the world. At first glance, I would say it was an effortless, easy 10 miles. But that could not be further from the truth. Behind today's 10 miles were years of dedication. Behind today's 10 miles were periods of frustration, and hurt when nothing seemed possible. Behind today's 10 miles were several months of awaking at 4:45 AM, and running in the dark, so I could be ready for this run today. Behind today's 10 miles were 17 years of being a runner, and 26 years of everything else before that. Behind today's 10 miles was a lifetime of me. Believe me, THAT is not easy. Nothing is.

But the harder something is, the more rewarding are the results. Anything that is too easy does not hold our interest for long. It's the extra effort that measures our success. It's doing whatever it takes, and doing what you believe in, that makes one happy. There is always tremendously hard work that makes our most valiant efforts "easy." Today's run was not easy. Life isn't easy. Nothing is easy. But today, I know that, in all things, I have done the best I know how. The rewards of that are endless.

Absolutely.

But then, I'd feel that way whatever I'd done. Whatever you choose to do precludes whatever else you might have done. The road not taken, and all that.

I've quit 100 times, and then got back to it 101 times.

I always think "this is it, this will be the last" but it never is.

16x wrote:

I've quit 100 times, and then got back to it 101 times.

I always think "this is it, this will be the last" but it never is.

That explains a lot.

Guest wrote:

but the writing style is all wrong..

Any pointers on how to fix the writing style so that I can break 14 too?

VOXBOX caught the truth, amen.

Reading thru this thread I was looking for some reason to feel as though all the running and training I missed out on for the last 15 years was not worth worrying about. Didn't happen. No, I don't regret a single moment I spent running: I only wish I had run more.

I grew up in with demanding parents who directed me and my two sisters into stressful careers (two MDs, one attorney). As a young boy I loved all types of athletics and this was repressed by my parents in lieu of academics. At age 30 I started running and from my first 5K I knew I had found my niche. Too gutless to walk away from a career I don't like, I have persevered and now at age 45 have a million bucks in the bank and a big house but am struggling to come even close to running a decent 10K (eg, "break your age" for 10K as a goal). I spend most of my training runs either dreaming about how fast I might have been if I had started training at age 16, or trying to figure out ways to get faster now. I ran sub 35 at age 33 and my pals who had running careers always said, dude you have talent and you could have run sub 29 in college.

If I had it to do over again I would chuck this career I am doing now, made myself a name as a runner and then parlayed that into a career connected to athletes and athletics. Yes that assumes it would have worked out that way but after all I *AM* an overachiever; who's to say it wouldn't have happened??

Don't EVER EVER EVER regret your status as an athlete, least of all not because you believe the other 99% have so much "better" lives than you. They don't.

No regrets. None at all

bump

what i think VOXBOX is trying to say is that if you're in it for the recognition and accolades, then, yeah, you've picked the wrong "passion." Most of the people who have pursued it this far and doing it for much different reasons.