What do you regret as a runner?

I regret not doing more core stuff and trying to get really fit too fast by hammering easy runs. Also, I constantly wonder how much better I would be if I didn't smoke weed. I'd be a less interesting person, but probably a better runner.

I moved up to the 800m as a sophomore in HS. I feel like I should have stuck with the sprints.

I regret not stretching during my high school and college days.... Now at 50, I still run competitively but have the flexibility of a pine board....

There were circumstances that pretty much wiped out my freshman year as a runner, and I gave up the sport until I was about 26. Of course in retrospect, there's no reason I couldn't have come back healthy in my sophomore year, and I would have liked the travel with the team. Ah well.

Another regret i have (at the time) is how i didn't run the 1600m my senior year of high school at our district meet where i would have qualified to regional's and then probably on to state (if everything went according to plan and that i didn't cramp or something bad happen to me) instead of qualifying for the 3200m and only making it to regional's.

every competitor who was favored to make it in the 1600m (there was 6 guys who were all favored to make it out, but they had to battle for only 4 qualifying spots)dropped out and ran the 3200m instead, leaving the door WIDE open for anyone to qualify to go to state for the 1600m.

but you know, since then, i gotten over it. i would rather run against hard working runners and earn my spot to state rather than getting a free ride by running an easier event where like the top 6 guys dropped out of that race to run another race.

Running related...

Well, I don't know if this is a regret, but looking back I wish that in my era there was better training knowledge for my event, and that even though I ran at a very famous program with a very famous coach...that he had known how to train athletes in my event, or admitted he didn't and asked for some help (grad assistant) or was willing to do the work to learn about my event and not just throw us in with the other runners.

As a result, our school underperformed in this event, for decades...while it did well in some other events.

I guess what all this means, is that I wish I had had a coach who really understood and knew how to train athletes in my event, and who conscious gave a shit about how we did... Not just about the guys in the events he knew how to coach and got success and notoriety for...

But here is the thing, I am willing to bet that far and away the majority of college athletes had sub-standard coaching and support... Track is really underfunded, and a fringe sport...and good coaching of both the body, the mind, and the spirit, is far and few between.

...Sadly it seems like there are still alot of bad coaches, mean coaches, stupid coaches out there.

I think the worst thing is to have a coach who is for all intents and purposes a pretty nice guy, but who just doesn't know diddle about your event, and so doesn't really care about it. Old school jock who didn't know what he didn't know...and so therefore wasn't even aware of what he could not be bothered to get educated on.

It was a good life lesson though.

And I am proud of the fact that the one year I coached middle school track, I studied hard and trained my athletes intelligently...peaked them twice...for their last two meets and the final championships...and every single one of the, every one!! ran their PR in that final meet.

That was a pretty neat deal. They were all just ecstatic and thrilled. It was pretty cool to see all those smiling faces circle round at the end of the meet.

It doesn't get much better than that!

good statement; glad that your that coach who knows what to do and can coach your runners in a smart fashion. hope your still coaching and if you are, hope that your still continuing the success!

i went to my sober grad the night before the state meet, really dumb...ended up running like crap

Not running in the first 2 years of high school. I ran track and xc in middle school. I was even a captain in 8th grade. but I got into basketball, which ended up being a waste of time because I got cut from the school team every time. I came back to running junior year and ended up having a lot of fun and working hard. I just feel like i missed out on a lot of experiences when i chose not to run.

(read this guy's post)

Geezus...

Easyone for me 1) not trying to walk on at my point university. My times were probably good enough but I couldn’t afford not to work.

2) after college I could concentrated on 5Ks. I wish I would’ve done a marathon then. I had time and speed.

The XC captain during my Freshman year was a bit of a jerk to the underclassmen and didn’t really try to help us improve or inspire us or whatever. Then when it was my turn to be a senior, I acted in a similar way. I, and many other seniors, tended to isolate the freshmen whenever we were having conversations or hanging out after practice. None of us really congratulated them on PRs or even really gave them much advice. I’m sure it didn’t feel like much of a team if you weren’t at least a junior.

I always felt bad about that kinda stuff. If I were in their shoes, I don’t think I would have stuck with the sport. At least when i was a freshman, it was just one senior that was acting this way, but we were all doing it.

Also I really wish I ran the 800m at our district meet. Didn’t get a chance to run an 800 all season when I was in sub 2 shape.

Running nearly 68,000 miles and showing little for it.

I think I overtrained in high school my first season of indoor track, my freshman year. Legs hurt all the time...if my memory serves me correctly, there were some days I could barely climb stairs. Thought more pain = more gain. This was 14 years ago, yet how I even survived that without doing some sort of lasting damage is still beyond me. Of course I took a month break between indoor and spring track and ended up running a 5:48 mile my first season of outdoor (as opposed to 6:20 at the end of indoors) so maybe it actually paid off.

Yes I'm livin' at a pace that kills

Also I would've done a lot more weightlifting, long runs, and cut back on the workout efforts if high school me knew what I know now.

addicted to here wrote:

anyone regret finding this forum?

Yes.

It makes me feel so bad about my running, I am prpbably about 5 whole minutes slower in the 5k than the people who get trolled here for being slow.

But to be honest, this forum has some good training advice and can actually be quite funny. I really do not know what force makes me religiously check the blards every night.

So if I only could be running up that hill with no problems. If I only could, I'd be running up that hill.

I think anyone who says "I have no regrets" is a fool. However, when it comes to running I have absolutely no regrets.

If it is a regret it would be the fact that I could not convince any of my old friends to even try running. Most of them are now overweight, unfit, smokers and drinkers and have bad health. I'm as fit and trim as a puma!