I hate talented runners...

drsmrtypnts wrote:

Personally I find running to be more about those early morning spring runs in the rockies watching the sun rise at the peak of a mountain more so than the racing itself...

Oh come on. That sounds nice and all, but that's not what running is about. I can go watch the sunrise over the mountains without running.

My favorite janitor is a runner too.

http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/archive/frazz-20080324.html

http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/archive/frazz-20080315.html

http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/archive/frazz-20080327.html

I understand what you mean. In high school, there was this really skinny kid who always beat me in meets by over 1 minute my freshman year (I was the worst freshman in the city). The kid was a jerk, so I put extra effort in to beating him. By my junior year I started beating him by significant margins.

i kinda like running wrote:

neanderthal dream wrote:

I hear you. In high school, we had a sprinter who won the state 100m and 200m sprints, but didn't do a damn thing in or out of practice. He ran 10.93 to win state as a freshman, 10.79 to win as a sophomore, then quit cause he couldn't hack it. That 10.79 is on raw talent, he never worked in practice. He could have been amazing, gone to any school he wanted, but dropped track because he couldn't hack it, giving some BS story about how he had to be there for his grandma.

What state do you live in that 10.93 wins the state title? Was it a tactical race?

lol first time i heard that one

no so talented wrote:

...who don't work hard and still kick my butt. We've got a guy on our college team who rarely trains outside of practice and doens't even like to run, but he's got a full ride cause he's fast. It frustrates me to no end. It's not that he's fast that bothers me, but that he could be so much better. He just doesn't care. I wish I could take his talent and give to other guys on our team who love to run and train thier butts off.

Has it occurred to you that maybe the reason this guy is fast is that he (1) shows up for practice and works hard in the workouts his coach asks him to do; and (2) Doesn't buy into this obsessive-compulsive "train their butts off" jogging stuff?

More is not always better. Just ask Teg.

Maybe if you got this "train your butts off" mileage obsession under control and did what your coach asks (and not more or less than that), you'd run faster, too.

Do you hate people who are smarter than you, who get better grades without working hard? It's pretty much the same thing.

Ouch.

Bastage.

I was a fairly talented runner in high school. I was best on my team, and I did win state. I tried hard and did care about how I did. I would do all the runs, try to eat right, try to get sleep, etc. Near the end of high school though I lost my desire to get much better. I still did everything necessary to be good, but the love and desire to compete I had early on seemingly disappeared. When it came time to run in college, I decided not to. My high school training was already a commitment, and since I didn't really love it anymore, I couldn't make myself put that much time into it. I still like running and I still like the satisfaction of a good run, but I don't run for my college. I wish I had the desire that I once had, but it's gone

There's a reason some talented athletes feign indifference toward their sport. They really don't have that much confidence in their ability.

They know that if they really tried to make the most of it, they'd eventually reach a level where they'd get their ass kicked regularly. They prefer to be worshipped as a big fish in a small pond that to move on to a pond where all the fish are big. That way they'll at least have envious smaller fish feeding their egos with talk of how talented they are. But they'll never have to learn the limits of their talent.

Seen it time and again, especially in the US. The Japanese have a much healthier view of innate ability vs. hard work, in my view. Talent isn't an obsession there the way it is in the US. People distinguish themselves by hard work. Americans, on the other hand, love to worship "talent" and "potential." That's convenient because it makes it easy for people to quit rather than work hard. After all, if it's all in the genes, what's the point of working?

Agree completely.

i kinda like running wrote:

What state do you live in that 10.93 wins the state title? Was it a tactical race?

Yes, the gun went off and they all sat in the blocks looking at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.

............ wrote: I was a fairly talented runner in high school. I was best on my team, and I did win state/////I still like running and I still like the satisfaction of a good run, but I don't run for my college. I wish I had the desire that I once had, but it's gone

The fact that you are still running is a victory in and of itself. I'm 47 now, and I find running MORE satisfying than in my younger days, even though I have to practically kill myself to run within 3 minutes of my 5K time from 30 years ago. My running talent is very limited - I was the slowest runner on my team for an entire year - then I caught the running bug and out-worked a lot of the others. I was never going to catch the talented guys, but I made varsity my senior year and turned an initial 15 minute 2-mile into 10:35. I ran off & on for fun in college, then more OFF than on as a working, married, starting-family adult. Got serious about running about 4 years ago, when my daughter was a freshman and ran XC. "Ran" a 31 minute 5K in 2004, then dropped it to near 21 the next year. I recently ran a half-marathon in 1:44, and may try for my first marathon in 2009, if I can stay uninjured. This Friday I'm trying to break 6 minutes in the mile for the first time in 27 years. I love it! I coach my school's cross country teams, and go to every XC & track meet I can.

Personally, I don't think you've "lost" anything by not competing in college, except maybe a ton of pressure and expectations on your back. Enjoy it for the rest of your life.

Coach W

Im a talented runner but don't love the sport.

I run competitively because I like the sport, but would rather sleep in than go on morning runs, and would rather hang out with friends than run a 20 miler.

As a result, I'll probably never break 4 (which, as I ran 4:11 in high school, is not totally out of reach). I'm OK with that an accept it. But I will run OK, and I will score more points for my team than if I wasn't running at all, and I don't set a 'bad' example for the team as everyone is pretty self directed here.

So, is this bad?

I think it's ridiculous that everyone shouts and screams and cries because someone was fast decided not to pursue the sport. Then you try to make yourself sound all high and mighty saying "he couldn't hack it", "didn't have the dedication", or "he was afraid of what would happen in the big pond"...

frig guys, our sport is running! is it really that crazy to think that people just might not like it?

Maybe people don't want to spend their college years running up a strip of mondo, or going around and around in circles. It's not a glamorous sport. maybe the kid had other things to spend his time on, or just wanted to focus on school and still have time to party. is it really that hard to believe?

you think just cause he can run a 10 point-something he has to be cursed to a life of hard-ass dedicated training?

And to finish this wake -up call, to all of you saying "train harder and you'll catch up"... it can happen, but that doesn't mean it will. i know a whole lot of slow people who can quit their jobs, get free supplements, train their asses off, and they still won't be as fast as a few talented people with mediocre work ethics.

now get your heads out of your asses and stop whining. some people are talented, get over it. They don't all have the same values as you.

insano to the max wrote:

And to finish this wake -up call, to all of you saying "train harder and you'll catch up"... it can happen, but that doesn't mean it will. i know a whole lot of slow people who can quit their jobs, get free supplements, train their asses off, and they still won't be as fast as a few talented people with mediocre work ethics.

Sad, but true.

I would say that I am one of the talented runners that some of you hate/dislike, 3:50 1500m as a 17 year old. I am now 29 and feel that I have wasted my career in track and field because I was and still am lazy. I would do the bare minimum to get through and that was enough till about the ages of 18 when I started to get injured because I was then trying to step it up in training (finally became unlazy). Because of my laziness before I just didn’t have the base to recover and build on that I should have had. My base should have been about 50-60 miles but instead I would run max of about 20 per week up till about 18/19. Do I regret my decision to not push myself when I was younger….Yes.

[quote]neanderthal dream wrote:

Great janitors don't win Olympic medals.

Yes they do. Curling in the Winter Olympics. Just busting on you. I thought it would be funny.

I've had time to reflect on this after my somewhat harsh earlier post. I think of myself as a "serious" runner, in that I train up to 70+ miles per week, with some doubles, a couple of workouts, and a long run each week. In addition, I hit the gym a few times a week to work on functional strength, core strength, and flexibility. Despite all that, I've gotten frightfully slow, much more so than would be attributable to aging (I'm in my mid-50's). I put in a hard effort when I race, but invariably find myself losing to people who train a lot less than I do. Many times I'm relatively satisfied with my performance until I attend the post-race ceremony (out of respect for my friends, since I rarely win anything other than at local events). It is only when the awards are handed out that I realize how miserably I have performed relative to my more talented, less dedicated peers.

So what's the answer? Quit racing, and just go out and jog everyday? I guess I could do that. I would probably never have any injuries to deal with. But I still enjoy the thrill of "faster" running, not just in races, but in training for them. So I keep hammering away, hoping to perhaps get just a little faster than I was last year or the year before. I think it is that slim hope, and a true enjoyment of living and training like a competitor that keeps me going. I guess what I'm saying is that we're in a very similar situation, despite being at different points in our lives. I feel your pain brother.

"Many times I'm relatively satisfied with my performance until I attend the post-race ceremony (out of respect for my friends, since I rarely win anything other than at local events). It is only when the awards are handed out that I realize how miserably I have performed relative to my more talented, less dedicated peers."

Give yourself a break. You're in your mid-50s.

We serious distance runners seem to be serious perfectionists and/or workaholics as well. We get pissed at ourselves for not living up to our own (often) ridiculously high standards.

But in response to this thread in general, it seems to be only the rare person who has both the talent and the work ethic that ends up running at an elite level. Most of us have only one or the other, and often only a modest amount at that.