At What Point Did You Give Up On Your Dream Of Being A Great Runner?

When I first saw my college's cross country course, which was unconscionably difficult.

I was a walk on at a school that was a consistent top ten at NCAA XC. I couldn't hang with our top guys despite 100 miles per week. It was when I realized that our top guys couldn't hang with guys who couldn't hang with world class runners, that I realized I would never be one of the great ones.

"while missing out on social events (ie. parties, going out late with friends, seeing girls, etc)"

Assuming you are not running professionally, why are you treating it like a dredge or job? You can still have a social life. If you don't have one, that is part of the problem. You are probably depressed and that can affect performance. I mean really, you should not be running THAT much per day. An hour in the morning, hour at night. Long on the weekend. Sundays off. How can you not have a social life? If you find you are tired and falling asleep there is something wrong with your nutrition or you are training too hard (read: too fast). Back off a bit and watch your times drop...

Who would have thought that Hingle and I have near identical life stories as runners.

Eerie.

By "great" did you mean "legendary"? Being another guy who can run xx:xx isn't particularly great nor legendary.

Shattered Dreams wrote:When did you give up on your dreams of being a great runner?

Before I started running? Or when an elite runner passed me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt2dnPKEK9g

College Conspiracy - The Next Bubble .

Spent one week with Kim McDonald and the kenyans in Melbourne, could barely keep pace with their warmup runs. (5:30 miles for 3 miles) Like a previous poster said, "that's when I realized that they are doing a totally different sport."

mid-pack (15:00,31:00) would've been "great" in my book

after three cycles getting injured as i got into that neighborhood, i knew it was time to focus on my career and family.

so i could get "great" but not stay there

Can't believe no one has said this yet - I haven't given up yet! Of course, my definition of "great" is different to how some people have been using it. If it means making the Olympics, then sure, I guess I've given up on that. But IMO, "great" can mean different things for different people. After all, the subject line says "YOUR DREAM of being a great runner" - not someone else's dream - your own dream. So I think it has to be taken in context of each individual. If there's a 33:00 10k guy who had a HS PR of 5:30 in the mile and did many years of the hardcore runner lifestyle with >100 mpw to get to where he is, that dude is a "great runner" in my book.

With that definition, I very much still hope to be a great runner some day.

I want to f

run great has nothing to do with it

When I realized that breaking 28:00 wasn't going to get me any further up the food chain than than my sub-28:20 PR.

Gradually though out college I realized my talent level wasn't pro.

Hey that's where I come from. Did not compete in HS, but did some light running. Off and on a few times a week, usually about 3-4 miles. I ran about mid 18 3 mile on the indoor track and felt pretty good, but knew Pre and Virgin had gone in the 13s at the same age. And I solo time trialed a 5:30 mile.

Went on to run under 32:30 more than a dozen times, including a couple sub 32s. Not great by a long shot but a good jump from those beginnings.

For a while in college I thought I could be a 30 min 10K/2:20 marathoner but broke down under heavy training (primarily self coached even then).

Started ranking at small races. Started making money in business. Running is cool and stuff. The fire is gone. The doubles and training through mind bending fatigue lost its appeal on me. Still train and race fore fun if you can call it that.

When I learned about doping.

when Steve Jones ran the last 10k of his marathon world best in 29:32 my PR

Man everyone in this thread is weak and dumb.

When nosey people from the internet discovered my sub-3:00 marathon was actually slower than Oprah's.