How do 3:43+ 1500 guys make a living

I agree with you. I would even dare to say that athletes need (must) have a useable profession going along with 'just running'. At the end of the day, however, bills are to be paid and other financial obligations such as mortgage, health insurance, family priorities need to be met. 'Just running' is good while young. But this fleeting young age should not preclude one from preparing him/herself for the long run. Most 1500 world record holders had a real profession going along with running. Most African runners besides running work for prisons, military, banks etc or run their own businesses. European runners are obviously professionals. So taking advantege the educationl system is in my humble opinion is a double edge sword that help achieve both ends.

About working at the running stores or Starbucks, forget it! Get a real education!

DaveRad wrote:

On a percentage basis, how many athletes who play collegiate basketball or football make the jump to professional sports? Probably a comparable percentage to those in track.

How could this possibly be true? Most universities have both basketball and cross country teams, and both teams have roughly the same number of participants. Similarly, most schools have football and track teams, which likewise, are similar in number of participants (football teams being a bit larger).

For the percentage of athletes turning pro to be the same, we would have to have similar sized pro leagues for cross country and track. Clearly those don't exist. I'd say the ratio would be about 1:100 for fraction of athletes turning pro.

Its fine to be a dreamer, but really how long do distance runners actually spend training? Even with the addition of stretching, plyos, core strengthing and weight lifting you are looking at a max of 2 to 3 hours a day. Even if you work 40 hours a week, what is so difficult in finding time for your hobby? Realistically, if you can't run faster than 3:43 in college where the training environment is perfect, how fast do you think you are going to run?

potentially, a lot faster. A lot of people come from low mileage HS programs and take 4 years to START to develop. If runners continue on, that development can continue. And if you think that college is the "perfect" training environment you are pretty naive.

ok, in north and central america there are far MORE than 20-30x the number of people trying to make it in baseball (maybe 200-300x)... in japan, another populous country, i would guess the same is true (baseball is EXTREMELY popular there)... this wouldn't be true in europe, but it's not like there's TONS of kids trying to become top runners... and, contrary to popular belief, most kids in ethopia/kenya are more concerned about their daily needs than to train to become top runners... while basketball or football might drain kids off from baseball, soccer drains tons of kids from running worldwide (and i say that as someone who LOVES soccer)... i firmly believe there are 20-30x more kids dreaming of become professional baseball players than professional runners...

If tomorrow, the standards slowed so that 3:38 was a world leading time and 3:43-44 got you into contention for mational championships, shoe contracts, and everything a 3:34 guy gets now, this thread would still be here. It's just that the numbers would be different. The question might be how 3:48-49 guys make livings. In fifteen years, the question might be how 3:39-3:40 guys make livings.

As long as it's possible to earn a living from a sport, there will be people who get really good at that sport but not good enough to make a living from it and who'll need to decide if they want to continue being serious about the sport in addition to having a job.

Sometimes I think it was better when there was no money in the sport. At least post collegiates ran to find out what they could run for times and not be worried about making money. Heck guys like Roger Bannister broke 4 minutes for the mile, Bill Rodgers lived on food stamps and became a world class marathoner and medaled at the world x c champs. I doubt any of these runners thought they would make money from the sport regardless of the times. However what they did gave them more joy then any paycheck could. I say find a easy part time job or set up your life where you can work full time and train. Lots of runners do it and if you break thru to the next level where you get a sponsor and can train full time. Great, but if not at least your not going to look back later in life and wonder if you could run a sub 3:40 or what ever your talent level and hard work takes you too. By the way I trained a 110mpw well working full time in my day. Difference is I had to give up things like going out all the time with my friends and or girlfriends and everyone does not understand why you do it. However if the desire to achieve your potential is there you can do it no matter if you work 40 hours a week or not. Good luck young man.

I run 3.38 and make nothing. Say$2000 per year from races.. Big name brands are not interested so it really is 3.33 for cash!!!

Dont forget 9th in a Golden League =$0....8th is $200 and that is 3.31!!!

Supply and demand.........the world has changed

Why do you think the agents met last week...too many athletes not enough money ....

...........faster stronger poorer..........

To make any kind of a living in distance you have to be the very best. I guess the biggest claim to fame a 3:40+ 1500 meter runner gets is being invited to the Olympic trials.

Payscale for US mile running if equivalent to major league baseball talent:

3:43 - 3:46 - 10 million dollars

3:46 - 3:49 - 5 million dollars

3:50 - 3 :53 - 1.5 million dollars

3:54 - 3:56 - $250,000

3:57 - 4:00 - $150,000

4:00 - 4:04 - $50,000

4:05 - 4:10 - (minors) $10,000+

I was going to go on and say something on the order of what you've written here but decided my post was already long enough. Before money it all came down to whether it was something you wanted to do or not. If the answer was yes, then you had to think of a way to support yourself that would allow you to fit in your training and racing, and it is possible to do that, regardless of how good you were or weren't. A 4:39 guy faced the same situation as a 3:39 guy.

I too, trained at 100-120 while working full time as did many others.

Most African runners besides running work for prisons, military, banks etc[quote]Azziza wrote:

Yes, but these are gov't jobs where the elite runners are celebrated like american basketball or football stars. I don't think you could pass these jobs off as anything more than doing a little paperwork for a few hours a day.

LOL, nobody will pay shit for such time!!! i would recommend trying another proffesion