Is it really worth being a professional distance runner in the USA??

Nicely said! That's what I'm exactly talking about. People throw out the top runners but never talk about the runners who fill in the cracks with small contracts that help them get by while living off their parents.

You can be old have a corner office and enjoy life. You can adventure with a job and enjoy what you do. I think the young don't think ahead and don't see the costs of the future. The young don't realize that you could enjoy life at 65 and that you can adventure at that age. How happy will you be eating rice and beans and stuck in your apartment at the age of 65? Think about this when you decide to live with your friends at 25 with a small contract from Reebok that barely pays a livable wage. Think about not nurturing your degrees and "hope" that someone will hire you over those who have nurtured their degrees.

xStephan wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't care. If I had the chance to be a pro-runner, I'd think that'd just be so sick I wouldn't care to much about what I'd be doing afterwards. I mean anyone can go to college, get a boring job and whatnot, but only such a select few can live the dream like that. I guess they could always go back to school or something, but if they have a college degree, they'll probably be alright, even if they don't go into politics or something. They may not be superstars after retirement but I don't think to many will starve.

Why do so many people assume a college degree equals a job?? How old are you? Do you really think its that easy to go back to school at 30 with no ability to pay your bills or live on your own? what fantasy world do you live in?

Does Nick Symmonds count as a distance runner, he seems to be doing quite well with owning a tanning salon! Also Kara Goucher with her huge house!

This guy did OK for himself after his running career ended:

http://www.people.hbs.edu/pgompers/

I myself was something of a running bum in my twenties. I taught school and had a couple of other 'real' jobs, but mostly focused on running. I don't know if I really fit the description of professional runner as imagined by the OP, but I made some money and got some free equipment and trips, just not enough to live on; so I was not strictly speaking a pro. However, I did delay real life in some ways to be a runner. I didn't go back to school until I was in my early thirties, which was also when I got married and had children. But I'm now a tenured professor and department chair in my mid-forties. I'm not where I might have been had I started eight years earlier, but things have turned out OK.

It\' s sad you say, \" Get started on my life\". When doing what you love (running or whatever you choose) is more then getting started on your life! We only live once and it really doesn’t matter what you choose to do for a profession, just do it with pride and be proud of what you\'re doing! If you think running isn\'t getting started with your life then you were not meant to be a professional runner.

There will always be people telling you to give it up (whatever it is you do). Those are the people are don\'t want to see you succeed and can\'t succeed themselves.

live your life!!!!!!! wrote:

It' s sad you say, " Get started on my life". When doing what you love (running or whatever you choose) is more then getting started on your life! We only live once and it really doesn’t matter what you choose to do for a profession, just do it with pride and be proud of what you're doing! If you think running isn't getting started with your life then you were not meant to be a professional runner.

There will always be people telling you to give it up (whatever it is you do). Those are the people are don't want to see you succeed and can't succeed themselves.

I just wonder how many people who post here actually have jobs that will enable you to live a decent life? Or are you all college age kids who aspire to be professional runners and hope that it actually produces a decent living?

Like I said, unless you were gifted like Usain Bolt, Ryan Hall, or Alan Webb. Why would one waste and put ones energy towards running when you're only running a 3:59 mile? You could get a job, earn a living, travel the world, meet hundreds of people, and run. You don't have to give up running. You don't have to spend 5 hours a day training to run a 3:59 mile (do it and move on), you could go to work and secure your future and run a 4:15 mile.

If you post that you were once a sponsored USA distance runner please state your name and what success you have had after you moved on. Without a name its just words.

Paul Gompers...well that's good to hear he made a living.

How about yourself? What's your name? you can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?

Trex123 sound like a very angry and sad x distance runner. It looks like you are the one who has NOT grown up my friend.

There is something in this discussion that people are missing. Let's look beyond the immediate issue of money and power and status and, even 'carving out' a decent wage to buy your family nice things.

Me, I love to run, and I am only happy when I am running and pushing myself to the extreme and I know that if I were to stop in place of a job, I would forever ask the question- what if? I would sit back in 2016 and watch the Olympics in Rio and say, man, I could BE THERE on that track. For me, I would never forgive myself for giving up that possibility of competing for my country, however slight the possibility is.

I want to look back when I am 45 and say wow, I really gave it my best shot. I gave it everything, and in more cases than none, God will give you back what you put into it. If the chance is there to live the dream, GO FOR IT. You will regret it if you don't.

When you are 35 and the body is beginning to ail, then it may be time to concentrate on a career. Afterall, there is no reason why a professional runner cannot dab his toes in a nother professional field to start clocking hours before retirement from athletics. IE. get practicing skills like graphic design, learn how to trade on the markets, whatever makes you tick. AND,lets not forget that business is about WHO YOU KNOW. Contacts. And there is no better way to make a name for yourself than competing in a world champs of olympcs and have the whole country rooting for you. And who says this would put you behind people with jobs and sales experience? Bullshit. You will be the man. If you display a level head and common sense, the business community will help you out in your career and get you started.

I coach the Greater Boston Track club. None of my runners are professional runners. All have jobs or are in school. They train at a high level—some over 100 miles a week—and get a great deal of satisfaction from their serious amateur athletics.

These are 4:10 milers to 2:25 marathoners. No one is going to pay them for these even excellent performances. They are not commercial runners, but hardly anyone is.

The runner is not the one who decides be be a professional, but the decision is made by the business who offers a valuable contract and the agent who come clamoring because the athletes services can be sold for a profit.

No one is offering contracts to my runners but they train hard and race in and around their complex lives because it enhances quality and vitality. What would you do if you didn't train and race? Go to Cheers and drink?

But if one of my guys (or gals) pops off a world class time, they would sign and quit their day jobs for a while.

PS if you are or anyone you know is, coming to Boston for grad school or a job, join us.

Tom

It sounds to me that you Mr. Trex123 are an embittered runner that either never had a chance to make it as a post-collegiate runner, whether that be not getting sponsored or you were mad that you had to live with your parents while trying to run, or you are trying to justify that emptiness in your gut for giving up your dream of seeing just what your potential is. You seem hellbent on making current or future post-collegiate runners feel guilty about pursuing their dream by accusing them of not thinking of their future. You live life once why go through it having regrets. Enjoy life whether you are successful from the beginning or have to struggle for a while to eventually find success in your passion.

It equally sounds like you Mr. Trex123 are a super fan as well asking everyone to name themselves, so that you can go back and brag at your water cooler next to your corner office to all your other workmates, that regret giving up theirs dreams, that you indirectly "talked" to some successful post-collegiates on a message board.

Please stop trying to justify your regrets and go on about your life and let others lead theirs.

Trex123 wrote:

I think the young don't think ahead and don't see the costs of the future. The young don't realize that you could enjoy life at 65 and that you can adventure at that age. How happy will you be eating rice and beans and stuck in your apartment at the age of 65? Think about this when you decide to live with your friends at 25 with a small contract from Reebok that barely pays a livable wage. Think about not nurturing your degrees and "hope" that someone will hire you over those who have nurtured their degrees.

This is exactly what I was talking about in my previous posts. You are convinced that you are the only person who is putting any thought into life and that others who make different decisions than you must just not be thinking things through or they would be like you. Do you really think that you have a better understanding of any random runner's situation and options than they do? Do you really think that you have any idea actions runners are taking to "nurture their degrees" during the 80+ hours of the week that they aren't sleeping or training?

YES! This is what it's all about. Take the risk to do something you love, whether it's running or something else. If you don't, you may regret it for the rest of your life. The "what if's" are what kill you slowly inside. Do you ever notice that people who pursue their passions look so much more alive than people who give up and do what they "should?" To quote the movie Up in the Air, "How much did they offer you to give up on your dreams?"

B-shock wrote:

Me, I love to run, and I am only happy when I am running and pushing myself to the extreme and I know that if I were to stop in place of a job, I would forever ask the question- what if? I would sit back in 2016 and watch the Olympics in Rio and say, man, I could BE THERE on that track. For me, I would never forgive myself for giving up that possibility of competing for my country, however slight the possibility is.

I want to look back when I am 45 and say wow, I really gave it my best shot. I gave it everything, and in more cases than none, God will give you back what you put into it. If the chance is there to live the dream, GO FOR IT. You will regret it if you don't.

You can live life at 65! You may be dying of cancer at 65, or have heart problems, or back problems, or obligations, or be dead. And you certainly wolnt be able to run in races internationally. These runners have a chance to spend time doing what they love and getting paid, no matter how little, doing it. Who are you to say its not worth it? You couldnt make it and youre miserable with youre life so you want everyone to be? If they want a chance to travel and run PRs and do what they love while they are young and have no obligations, who cares then? Yes it is worth it. If they arent top level, they will retire in their 20s and be able to start a career. Many people change job paths. If you are stuck in youre job right after college, life would suck.

if you love what you do its damn well worth it.

I know very few people who have found jobs they love. Almost everyone I know is ok with their job but fall far short of loving it. On the other hand, I've known many people who love running and racing, others who love baseball or tennis or skiing and so on.

Sure, if you find a job you love that's going to make you wealthy and satisfied you'd be stupid to pass it by to eke out a marginal living as a professional runn unless you also really loved running. And then you might reason out that your dream job is probably something that you'll be able to do when you're older but you'll never be able to run as fast as when you're in your physical prime.

Rice and beans in my apartment at 65? There's food, there's a place to live, probably wired for cable. Sounds great.

Trex123;

Why is it any of your business what these other people do with THEIR lives? Nothing bothers me more than than people who try and tell others (not their family/friends) how they should live their lives.

You have showed your own pettiness by keeping alive a thread that should have died pages ago - you keep trying to defend your opening question. We understand your concern, and have let it go - so should you! Some may regret their decision to pursue their dreams, some may not - welcome to life and reality. People will make their own decisions regardless of what you think anyway - as they should.