When you eventually stop running competitively, you realize how futile it all was

good for you

I actually agree with you. After running competitively (year round) from 7th grade until my last year of college was exhausting. It was a LONG ride. My senior year of college I had no xc eligibility left but had indoor and outdoor. Unfortunately, that January I had another major set back and decided to hang them up, for good. I didn't shed any tears. I never achieved my dream of being a sub 14 guy (ran 14:32) but still had many personal achievements that I'm proud of.

I have not taken a step since January 2010. Since then I've enjoyed all the other things I love in life, but never had as much time to do when I was training. After over 4 years off I'm just now starting back.

Took my 2 year old son for a run (straight daddy pushing a jogger) yesterday. I'll never compete in a race again but I certainly still enjoy hitting the asphalt.

Most runners who compete know their ability is very limited, but live in denial and foster a false hope of making a breakthrough someday.

I have always thought that the best feeling in running is when you stop.

Whether it be a race or a workout or in general.

The faster you run or the farther you run, the better it feels to stop.

So you have an incentive to run far or fast to get a better feeling from the stopping.

And when you run for years and then stop, the break feels good.

If you hadn't run those years you wouldn't know how great it feels to not run now.

Prediction: you'll start running competitively in your age group once your kids are at college and you have a huge gap in your life.

As long as you are aware that every other aspect of your life is just as futile as far as being the best at something.

Most people are likely just OK at everything else as well. Their job, parenting, making money...everything.

In that sense, you might as well keep running and racing.

jamin wrote:

Most runners who compete know their ability is very limited, but live in denial and foster a false hope of making a breakthrough someday.

no, most runners compete because they like to run and train and improve themselves. There are no delusions of grandeur, but they know their life is made better by having running as part of it. I know I'll never be the best but if I weren't running and training, I would be eating like crap, taking a heavy dose of SSRIs, and drinking every weekend. This is what I did in college. Running saves me from myself. Others know this.

dagfasgsdfg wrote:

no, most runners compete because they like to run and train and improve themselves. There are no delusions of grandeur, but they know their life is made better by having running as part of it. I know I'll never be the best but if I weren't running and training, I would be eating like crap, taking a heavy dose of SSRIs, and drinking every weekend. This is what I did in college. Running saves me from myself. Others know this.

Precisely. I know I'll never be elite. And I'm fine with that. Running makes me happier, a better person, and I'll live longer than if I don't run.

Plus, if you want to say that running is all for nothing because most will never be great, that can be applied to any hobby. Why play guitar? You'll never be Jimmy Page. Why go snowboarding? You'll never be Shawn White. Following this logic, don't do anything because you'll never be the best. That sounds like a sad life.

Just make sure running isn't the only thing in your life you're focusing on. Diversify your life. Try to have a good career outside of running, and put in the work to have a social life that doesn't revolve around running. If running was all you had, and it didn't work out the way you wanted, of course you'll feel like it was a waste.

Pretty much everything is futile. It's just a question of which futile things you're interested in enough that you ignore the futility.

I had a dream once. I dreamed I went back to work, outside of my job as a pro runner. All I could think was, "Man, this will never be as exciting as running."

The traveling, meeting people, the thrill of winning and racing in major races, and partying it up after races. You don't even have to be a pro to experience how awesome it is. I can't imagine my life being any more exciting, had I decided not to pursue this path. It's been one heck of a ride. I have local runner friends who have significantly changed their lives because of running (dropped weight, cut out addictions, maybe even qualified for Boston or traveled to race around the world). If you think your life is better by not running, you haven't experienced it to the fullest.

former runner wrote:

I haven't been for a run in 6 months and it feels great

You obviously didn't figure this out after you turned 15 like most do...... nobody cares.

I felt burned out at the end of high school and told myself I was done running.....3 months later I missed it so much and picked it back up. Running is no more futile than anything else you can do.

It makes me generally happier and it's a confidence booster. It feels good to be better than 99% of the population at something even if I'll never be anywhere near elite status.

My running prevents me from gaining weight despite my love for food and the feeling of runner's high or the feeling of finishing a run all sweaty is so satisfying.

I have plenty of friends that stopped running competitively but still run every day.

I'm not going to read this thread because it scares me, but every once in a while I see through the fog and I see what yo are saying. That it is all futile.

But I quickly bury that deep and keep going. Because it has to matter. It has to.

from a pro wrote:

If you think your life is better by not running, you haven't experienced it to the fullest.

This statement is BS. Get outta here with that garbage.

I'm going to second this and ammend my earlier post. I had a blast when I was training and racing seriously. I got to places I never would have gone had it not been for running and had experiences I'd never have had otherwise. My best friends are mostly other old guys who ran seriously. Somehow I managed to pass my love of the sport along to my kids who also run seriously and I've had a great time watching them do that and I've gotten to know another bunch of really good people while doing this.

Of course I'm not sure what the overall value of any of this is. If there's supposed to be a point to something aside from really enjoying it and feeling like it's made your life better, then running, like anything else that we do for enjoyment, is futile.

Yournottheonlyoneman wrote:

from a pro wrote:

If you think your life is better by not running, you haven't experienced it to the fullest.

This statement is BS. Get outta here with that garbage.

No it isn't. If you look at running from an obtuse viewpoint "I make a lot of money and win medals or I'm a failure" then I suppose it would be "garbage", but if that is what you think then it would be futile trying to explain anything to you.

As with any experience, there are ancillary benefits that you acquire, and sometimes you don't realize it till much later in life.

In your late twenties you think you know everything, it's not until you get older you realize how little you actually knew.

I've stopped running not once, but twice. Both times I realized how futile and unfullfilling just about everything else in my life is. Ok, so I'm not going to outkick Galen Rupp in the homestretch of the USATF 10k, but so what. After getting back in shape and training smarter, more, and harder, I've been able to pr, even past college. I'm only in my mid-late 20s, but I have several friends in their 30s and one guy I know of in his 40s who continue to pr. I expect I'll be running faster at 50, or at least 45, than I was in college, and if not, well da--, but I love it. You know what is futile though? Working your butt off so you can make money for someone else. Even if you get to the point where ppl are working their butt off to make money for you, you aren't going to enjoy that money as much as if you were fit. Go for a hike on your vacation in the Sierra Nevadas and you'll know you could have done it without getting winded 20 years ago, while its nothing but a walk in the park to me. You know whats even less fulfilling? TV shows and video games, like most young men replace running with. Or yoga/barre classes that women seem to gravitate towards.

I pretty much accomplished all of what I could realistically expect, and met three very nice girlfriends through running. What is supposed to be futile again?

Kids these days. I'm 54 and most of the men I see in their 50's are fat slobs. I am not fast, never ran any organized events, no cross country no track (well, I high jumped one year and wasn't very good) but I was a three sport athlete (football, hoop and basketball) and now I run. I run because to run is to be an athlete, and to move long and run hard is fun. People in my life have died, friends have betrayed me, I have experienced some success and some failure and the constant for the past 25 years or so has been running. So...run, don't run, whatever. As for me, I'm a runner.