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

I know that this may sound stupid to some people, but If I dont break 14 minutes for 5k then I will feel that everything that I have done, all of my training will have been in vein. Even though sub 14 is extremly rare and a difficult feet, I should be able to "one day" run a sub 14 5k. With all of the track workouts, high mileage, disicpline, reading up on training methods, consulting with other more experienced or faster runners to gain wisdom or motivation, and all of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears, then YES. I will be very upset if I dont achieve my goal. I am no where near it right now. but thats what I am aiming for. And Im willing to spend the next 10 years trying to obtain that goal. But like I said before.....If I dont get it, then all of the hard work and effort will have been for nothing. Im sick of being just an average runner, I wanna be an elite runner. If I dont become one, des[0-=pite all of the work im going to put into it, then hell ya, it was all for nothing.

Think of it as applying for a job at the same company for 10 straight years and getting no feedback on weather or not you got the position. Then when they finally respond to your application, they simply tell you "sorry, you didnt make it, you should try applying somewhere else"

After all thoes years devoting yourself to your training, and still failing to meet your goals.

I think the real question is....

After all of the self sacrfice, who wouldnt regreat it??

if you don't enjoy the process, you're wasting your time.

I do enjoy the process very much. But i like to see something at the end of the road.

Whats the point of walking into a dark tunnel if there is no light on the other side?

I'm a lot poorer now than when I started running.

It coincided basically with the dot.com bust.

But I don't blame running for being poor. Just a coincedence.

Just wish I had sold out before the bubble burst, so I don't irrationally blame running for being a heckuva lot poorer.

I think the key, like other people have said, is to continue doing other things and not let running be your 'all'.

Well it's about time

It's beginning to hurt

Time you made up your mind

Just what is it all worth

All my useless advice

All my hanging around

All your cutting down to size

All my bringing you down

Watch the clock on the wall

Feel the slowing of time

Hear a voice in the hall

Echoing in my mind

All your stupid ideals

You've got your head in the clouds

You should see how it feels

With your feet on the ground

Here I stand the accused

With your fist in my face

Feeling tired and bruised

With the bitterest taste

All my useless advice

All my hanging around

All your cutting down to size

All my bringing you down

All your stupid ideals

You've got your head in the clouds

You should see how it feels

With your feet on the ground

The most important thread on letsrun to me. I am 13 years old, I failed a season of track with an infection and I'm glad it happened. I'm glad I realized that I hated to run track and spend all my energy running 4 interval workouts a week and hearing shit from my non-runner coach. I am going to run a half marathon this summer, and this week was my first week of training. Yesterday, I remembered. I remembered what the journey was like, that the adventure of my life will not be defined by where I finish, but how I got there. I've decided to live my life like I always really wanted. I'm going to enjoy my journey and not care where it takes me. For all the contributors to this thread, thank you. You have saved my life.

S. A.

The most important thread on letsrun to me. I am 13 years old, I failed a season of track with an infection and I'm glad it happened. I'm glad I realized that I hated to run track and spend all my energy running 4 interval workouts a week and hearing shit from my non-runner coach. I am going to run a half marathon this summer, and this week was my first week of training. Yesterday, I remembered. I remembered what the journey was like, that the adventure of my life will not be defined by where I finish, but how I got there. I've decided to live my life like I always really wanted. I'm going to enjoy my journey and not care where it takes me. For all the contributors to this thread, thank you. You have saved my life.

S. A.

I only wish I started running earlier. Didn't start until college. My times wouldn't impress anyone. Running teaches discipline and gives you something that you can control the outcome to. You get what you put in. I can't be an Olympian but I can reach my potential.

GStone wrote:

I am starting to wish I never started running like I do. Maybe I would have a few talents or passions. Running was everything for a great period of my life. With the job and the family, I've had no time for anything else.

Basically, I feel like I've wasted my life by running. I could have done so much more. Anyone else ever have this feeling?

I especially am hit hard with this when I'm injured.

yes

benman92 wrote:

I only wish I started running earlier. Didn't start until college. My times wouldn't impress anyone. Running teaches discipline and gives you something that you can control the outcome to. You get what you put in. I can't be an Olympian but I can reach my potential.

So does anorexia, except that you get what you don't put in.

wordzsad wrote:

if i did it over again, i'd turn down the full scholarship offer, trade in the few all americas, and live a normal life without the hurt and miles and sacrifices.

I agree, except I would keep the full ride scholarship and just not care. I'd go to a school where I can be the best without trying. Ya know, instead of a school with 13:40 5k guys, go somewhere where 15 minutes is amazing. Then I'd get a free degree and focus on things like internships to set up my career and have fun being the best on the team. For the record, I know good schools with scholarships that have guys who can't break 15. I got an offer from 1. Looking back, I should have taken it instead of the top school.

Just finished my career as a college runner. I sacrificed a lot. I was the tier below all American in college the last few years. I don’t regret the sacrifices because I knew I had to make those to reach my goal of being an AA which I never met.

It didn’t happen and it won’t happen. And that’s ok.

Really interesting looking at this thread... some things never change. I have the same thoughts and emotions as a lot of the posters from the early 2000s.

Sub 14 really isn’t that impressive anymore (a poster mentioned this). Amazing what technology will do.

The thing with being a distance runner in college is that most of us dream of being a star and receiving glory that doesn’t really exist in our sport unless you’re a select few. It really is a tease (at least to me) because you dream of something that probably won’t happen. But man those dreams on solo runs of getting recognized for being a good runner got me motivated so much.

Nah, it was fun, I got in good shape that is still paying dividends, taught me some things about working hard, hurting a lot, and success/failure.

I was never super great but it was fun to win a few races and set PRs. Gave me a lifelong love of hard endurance exercise, so that should keep me alive longer than if not...

I was forced to run at a young age by my father and my mother was too scared of his violence to stop it, although she disagreed with his behavior.

Unfortunately, I was good at it (4:25 freshman mile, 4:10 sophomore), so I got a little more freedom from Dad as I went through high school, although my brother tells me that I got beaten by my Dad after the 4:10 as a sophomore as only I only placed third in the race. I have blanked the whole thing out, which is either good or very scary. I simply have no memories. My brother reminded me that my team won the XC state meet twice. I only remembered once in my senior year. I have moved on.

My biggest regrets are not running, it is that I never had a childhood. No bike as a kid since I would ride it instead of running, No ball glove since baseball took away from running (I thought I was one of the best in my town when I borrowed other kid's gloves to play, but little league was out. So was cub scouts. So was most everything).

One smart decision I made. I went to college on a mixed academic/track scholarship. My coach had coached my father in 1959 for the one year my father attended my school!. My coach was in his 60s, so the timeline makes sense. My Dad was kicked out for sexual assault but walked since that is the way things went those days. (My Dad was also a very successful high school coach for 3 years when I was young but got fired for -you guessed it-sleeping with a student).

My college coach knew what I was dealing with. I think he recruited me (aside from a 3:48 1500m) because he wanted to help me. He did not want me going home in summers and arranged for me to stay-even Christmas. Mom was a mess after the divorce and all the women and violence anyway.

Luckily, given Dad's rap at the old school, he stayed away. He remarried a much younger women who really needed material stuff, so he dropped the whole running thing as he had a big house to build, clubs to join, and Mercedes to buy.

Anyway, Coach knew what I was dealing with. He also wasn't strict with my training. I never ran 2x a day. He also really encouraged my studies.

I don't really like running and I don't think I have natural endurance, but the sport also gave me a father figure that I badly needed.

My brother and I, despite all our academic success (Him, top law school, me, Ph.D. in Econ from a great school), still have a fantasy where we could have just left high school, went to community college, paid rent, and lived like normal kids. We think we would have worked are way up.

*our

That's quite the story. Thanks for sharing.

GStone wrote:

I am starting to wish I never started running like I do. Maybe I would have a few talents or passions. Running was everything for a great period of my life. With the job and the family, I've had no time for anything else.

Basically, I feel like I've wasted my life by running. I could have done so much more. Anyone else ever have this feeling?

I especially am hit hard with this when I'm injured.

Sorry you feel that way. I have absolutely no regrets over the time spent running and associated activities.

It was all good, enriching, and enjoyable to do and to reflect on. Of course I was fortunate enough to have a wife and child who supported me and who also valued the lifestyle.

sitting here now as a 31 year old never-was, i regret not running MORE. i think i plumbed the depths of my potential in the 800 meters, but everything longer than that i left a lot on the table by not doing more mileage. the worst part is that i was almost there - at the beginning of my sophomore college XC season i peaked at 85 miles a week. but i was also running like absolute sh!t and feeling tired all the time, so i decided to just basically quit a couple weeks before conference. i stopped running for a few months, then got a small injury trying to come back for track. after that i was extremely wary of high mileage, and ran the mediocre times to match. and now i think about all the time i sat around drinking beer the first few years out of college - i could have easily just run a ton and beat my college PRs in road races. but i just wasn't interested at the time. now i'm at a point where i want nothing more than to put up some 70+ mile weeks, but i've become an injury-prone old man whose legs can't take it.

overall, life has turned out very well for me and i have very few regrets. however, running is definitely an exception. and i realize that i'm very fortunate to say that. it is just a luxury expenditure of calories after all.