I noticed that there are several training groups on letsrun: the master's thread, the women's thread, the fall marathon training thread, 50+ runners, etc. Then I realized that I'm in a category I think a lot of runners here can relate to: the washed up has beens.
I was decent in high school and college, but am finding it difficult to stay motivated now that I'm on my own. I'm no longer fast enough to train with college runners (nor do I feel as competitive now that I'm kind of burned out), but I also don't fit in with the mid-life local 5k runners (no offense to them, but I'm not motivated by winning my age group, losing baby weight, etc.).
Now I understand why some runners retire after college since they don't think they'll ever be at that level again, but at the same time I've felt that I want to keep running. It's difficult to stay motivated when I compare myself to what I used to be.