Running bums: Sad or Admirable?

"I wish I had spent more time at work."

Said no man on his deathbed ever.

UK Limey runner wrote:

"I wish I had spent more time at work."

Said no man on his deathbed ever.

I wish I had money to pay for medical bills so I wasn't dying, said every man ever.

I would like to point out the fact that many driven, successful people were first failures in previously chosen fields. If your running bums are serious about training, they will one day be able to take the skills they learned battling obstacles in training, along with the chip on their shoulder for never having qualified for the olympics, and transfer their willpower to a successful enterprise

I think this OP has a legit concern and I have teetered between those thoughts. I feel that my opinion vastly changes upon every runner. I know some who are trying to make the OTs, but would never even be withing ten minutes of an actual Olympic qualifying spot or sponsorship. To me, people can have dreams, but they need to be tempered with some reality. Give it a go for a few years after college, but if it becomes apparent that they have "hit the ceiling", then moving on would be sensible.

Also, I think having a half-decent job whilst running at a high level is very achievable in this day-in-age. Just become a freelance web designer or become a programmer and contract out work. It's easy to work these days without having to inconvenience the focus of your day. I'm old school and think that just have two-three hours a day available for running and working hard.

I know a couple of people who did the running bum thing for a few years. All went on to much bigger and better things (med school, finance, engineering, etc.). There is really no good reason to start a career at age 22. In fact it is the best time in your life to do something different (military service, music, art, activist, sports, etc.). My boss competed on the motorcycle circuit for a few years before law school. Didn't make any real money, but got it out of his system. He now makes plenty of $.

The real running bums are the guys that work at a running store well into their 30s but don't have any ambition of doing anything other than doing some training and running races in town.

It depends on the person's goals. If the person's goals are tied up in monetary success, which is fine, pursuing running is not something that is very feasible because to make ANY kind of living off of running you need to be an olympian. Just making trials will probably get you some free shoes but won't be able to feed you alone. However, if monetary success is way down the list of your personal goals and running is something you are passionate about then go for it.

I was a good runner in college and tried to do the pseudo-professional thing for a year. I eventually realized I was just trying to hold on to "the good old days". Today I have a good job that sometimes sucks but sometimes is great and I run about 60 miles a week to keep in shape.

It's all about balance in my opinion.

Precious Roy wrote:

There is really no good reason to start a career at age 22.

Of course there is. Get started on your career and make enough money to retire when you have many quality years left to enjoy.

Sometimes, youth is wasted on the young. I keep hearing about how people are going to do something with their youth to make a difference. Then they piss it away playing video games and hanging out with their friends. Or they go to Alaska to live in a bus and die. Suddenly they're 30 and have 45 years of work to look forward to. No thanks.

BTW, that's not to say if you have actual talent and a desire to succeed at something that requires youth you shouldn't do it. But many other things that people think they have to do when they're young (like travel) can also be done in your 40s and 50s when you're done working, assuming you started working early enough to afford you that opportunity.

is your bum running? wrote:

If your running bums are serious about training, they will one day be able to take the skills they learned battling obstacles in training, along with the chip on their shoulder for never having qualified for the olympics, and transfer their willpower to a successful enterprise

Maybe. But I probably wouldn't bet on it. I remember Marty Liquori talking about guys who wanted to work for him at Athletic Attic, and all they had been doing was running 15 or 20 miles a day. He seemed to regard them as nothing more than losers who had managed to persuade themselves that they were actually accomplishing something by running 15 or 20 miles a day. (I remember a particular phrase that he used to describe them, but I won't repeat it here.)

Avocado's Number wrote:

Maybe. But I probably wouldn't bet on it. I remember Marty Liquori talking about guys who wanted to work for him at Athletic Attic, and all they had been doing was running 15 or 20 miles a day. He seemed to regard them as nothing more than losers who had managed to persuade themselves that they were actually accomplishing something by running 15 or 20 miles a day. (I remember a particular phrase that he used to describe them, but I won't repeat it here.)

I know 2 or three, but one runs 16:50 for 5k in the male 20-24 age group. They've been trying for 16:30 for 5k for 2+ years on 70 miles per week and 'they just know their big race to make the national team is around the corner'. Lives at home, works part time, parents pay for their car and so on. I don't really have the heart to tell him, but he seems to be living in a weird dream land.

If you run 66-69 half, you might as well quit. Working at the local shoe store at 10/hr so you can participate in US trials? LOL, big deal.

Then again, the job market is pretty poor. What else could these running bums do, really? Not much.

Totally thought this was going to be a thread about who has nice butts in the running world!

To each their own.

What's sad about is is the fact that today's running pseudointellectuals have inculcated them with the idea that the time commitment for elite training need consume their lives to the point that they can't pursue goals outside of running. You can thank the Al Sal's of the world for this.

Ole Timer wrote:

I worked my ass off as a younger man and now at the ripe old age of 42 I can see retirement in 10 years. If I had bummed around I'd probably be working until 65 or even 67. I prefer it this way. Others may prefer it the other way.

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Well, let's hope your coming retirement will be on your own terms - that is you are not forced into early ret. due to corporate or govt. downsizing.

It's possible to be working a full time career and remain a competitive runner.

It's funny you mention Al Sal in this regard. I just finished his book and it seems that he does look down upon competitive runners who try to also hold full time jobs. Obviously you can't pin all of this feeling on Al Sal but I do think coaches like him have sort of pushed the train of thought that says "You can either be a competitive runner or you can work a real full time job, but not both!" This kind of thought process has led to the slow death to what I consider the true "blue collar" competitive runner that either gets his runs down at 4:30 in the morning before work or after a full day of real work.

I am in my 40s. I was a musician in my 20s. I got to do a lot of fun things in my 20s (lots of performances, touring, travel, staying out late, practicing all day) that I would not want to do or be able to do in my 40s. You have so much more energy in your 20s and are so ready and willing to soak up new and different experiences than when you are in your 40s.

Plus, the odds of actually being able to retire early or have a light enough schedule to be able to travel and do different things in your 40s and 50s is very, very low. Most people will either not make that kind of money or won't let themselves walk away from their careers even though they could financially.

As long as people in their 20s are actually doing something they love, not hanging out playing video games or partying on their parents' dime, there is no better time in someone's life to pursue a crazy dream, even if the chances of success are next to zero.

"I wanted to be a distance god. There. I said it. I would've broken out of the lead pack and surged away, thrown down some impossible splits, devastated the elites as I stretched my lead, merciless, alone...almost floating. The field would've strung out and withered behind me as I burned and buried the best runners on the face of the planet. I would've become immortal. Was that too much to ask? See, running consumed me—sometimes like love, sometimes like cancer."

http://www.amazon.com/Wannabe-Distance-God-Passion-Running/dp/1479118834#reader_1479118834

So what do you all think? A running bum's lifestyle- sad or admirable?

Sadmirable.

Mumbojumbo wrote:

UK Limey runner wrote:

"I wish I had spent more time at work."

Said no man on his deathbed ever.

I wish I had money to pay for medical bills so I wasn't dying, said every man ever.

Not a problem for Limey UK folks.