For 17 years and almost 2/3rds of my life I have been competitively running (with a couple on/off years). Family, friends, colleagues, etc. my name has always been associated as being a runner. My father was a runner and is still heavily-involved in business areas of the running community.
For the last 5 years I've been training and racing as a post-collegiate, and each year becomes a little more difficult. I've always relied on having a training partner or someone to motivate me to train. At 27, I'm now without not only a training/racing partner, but someone to do any runs with to use to challenge myself or as a training exercise.
I always have enjoyed running and racing, I still do. I've grown to learn I enjoyed it so much though because of the friendships and bonds I developed with people through training, the experiences. Without the friends, training on my own is and has been a burden since leaving college.
I now have some new hobbies I'm very avid about and would like to begin dedicating more time to them. It gives reason for me to finally let the training go and start the next chapter. Even though I'm focused on pursuing my new interests, it's difficult for me to deal with the idea of letting go of the days of training/racing as it is what has defined me for most of my life. I feel like by letting go of it I am leaving a part of myself behind.
For those that have moved on from their racing days, from being "the runner" of the group--how did you deal with it? Did you feel a loss? Were you no longer the runner?