Dear older Pros, is it time to move on in life?

Gruntz wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

It is telling that the poster that decries “prideful entitlement” walks hand in hand with an obsessively crazed social media troll. In the end, these people find something they hate in a poster, which is more a revelation of a defect in their own personality.

Look, you started this thread and it got a reaction from people. You don’t have to like the reaction, but it was predictable. In other words, you got exactly what you asked for.

The Igster deserves every bit of push back and flaming he gets here. Although his credibility as a runner and former coach are not in question, he just comes across as an arrogant and narcissistic person. A crusty scold.

Oh, so since one doesn’t like my internet personality it gives them the right to be nasty, make outrageous claims, and pretend to be the better man. You can hide behind anonymous handles.

Only problem is that most of "life" is pointless anyway. Seriously, what is there to move onto? I say this as someone who "grew up" and became "more than" a runner. A decade later and wiser, my hobbyjogging is more important to me than pretty much anything but my family and my faith.

You move on in life, anyway. You don't realize it immediately, because we live in a rat-race society. Even if you fail, or not, you move on in life. We are only passengers here. Make an honest effort if you can't offer the best of yourself. Or let it go and find simple things that make you feel nice, things you can afford to have.

Your example is a 28 year old who finished 7th at the trials and has $500 in savings. The savings number is highly speculative and difficult to interpret without background information, so let’s ignore that. We also don’t know what event(s) we are talking about. Let me try to make sense of this anyway even though the picture is quite incomplete. So a 28 year old was 23 at the previous trials. I don’t think the OP is suggesting that is too old to keep living the dream. Now s/he is 28 and obviously still a national class runner. The question is why did s/he not finish higher than 7th. Again, we don’t know. Was there illness, injury, or other extenuating circumstances? Or was this the absolute best this athlete could do at her/his athletic peak? I think the odds would favor that this athlete still has the potential to have a better performance in the future. In such a (likely) case, and assuming the athlete is comfortable with their ability to finance up to 4 more years of training, I would certainly not be recommending they abandon their dream. Doing so could lead to years of regret which could manifest itself in many different undesirable ways.

RBKboi wrote:

Only problem is that most of "life" is pointless anyway. Seriously, what is there to move onto? I say this as someone who "grew up" and became "more than" a runner. A decade later and wiser, my hobbyjogging is more important to me than pretty much anything but my family and my faith.

At the end of every season the aging athlete is asked this question. I was with my college coach Tom Von Ruden when he failed to advance at the 1972 Olympic Trials. He was teary eyed as he hugged his first wife Eleanor. He was 9th in the 1500m at the previous Games, and set a world indoor record for the 1,000 yard run that season. We ran a 2-man 10 mile relay earlier that season. If I recall correctly he teamed up with Mike Manke, another Oklahoma State miler that ended up in the 4th spot in the 1500m four years later. They were clipping 60s, so 60 second 440 with 60 second rest, 20 of them. Tom was never the same after that workout, sciatica. Tom did everything he could to make that team. I am sure Manke did the same. Like Mike Lundgren said there were not many options back then. Tom passed away a few years back. Like does go on, with or without you. I wrote this tribute to Tom as Idahos first 4:00 miler back in 2007, sent a copy to his second wife Betty upon his passing.

I have no issue with your post. I just wrote about that hypothetical athlete as part of a conversation. I don’t claim to have the answer, but I can see how an athlete might stick around too long. I was personally moving on a year before my second Olympic Trials. That was my choice, and I don't regret it. I have done different things in and out of the sport. Still enjoy training and racing even at this age.

It’s absolutely mind boggling how you could turn a tribute to someone else into a story about you. My guess is that your narcissism has blinded you to the point where you believe that kind of behavior is normal.

What! You’re trying to tell me how to live my life!

😹

How many guys in their 70s do you think are following this thread? Ghost is one of a small number of people here who is older than I am. What claims about his running do you want verified? It's easy enough to look at results from Western Hemisphere or Boston. He mentions those performances. I can chime in with "Yeah, that's right."

To give you an example of the passage of time, if Orville Atkins was looking at this thread he'd be here with "Yeah, that's right." Steve Hoag might do that as well but they're both dead. again, what sort of verification are you looking for?

HRE wrote:

How many guys in their 70s do you think are following this thread? Ghost is one of a small number of people here who is older than I am. What claims about his running do you want verified? It's easy enough to look at results from Western Hemisphere or Boston. He mentions those performances. I can chime in with "Yeah, that's right."

To give you an example of the passage of time, if Orville Atkins was looking at this thread he'd be here with "Yeah, that's right." Steve Hoag might do that as well but they're both dead. again, what sort of verification are you looking for?

Thanks HRE. In regards to Orville we traveled to Boston together in 1974. He trained with the Santa Monica Track Club while racing for the Seniors Track Club. Ran with him quite a bit, and he attended our wedding. After my wife and I moved out of the area I would travel back to Santa Monica to see family over the years. I would frequently see Orville running, and later walking on the Palisades Park or up San Vicente Blvd. In 2006 Orville and I got together for lunch the week of the Carlsbad 5k, and Orville told me he was financing Henry Rono’s return to racing as a masters athlete.

I miss having Orville here. I only met him once. It was in the Prudential Center one year after Boston. Pretty sure it was 1974. Later we got to know each other through this board and we exchanged some e-mails as well. I did not know he financed Henry's racing but I can't say I'm stunned. He seemed the sort of classy guy who loved the sport and would do something like that.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

BOHICA wrote:

What library do I have to drive to on order to fact check obscure claims? He touted his vast value to the world by purporting connection and contribution to others, so given the reach of this site in the sport in our country where the hell are they to chime in with, "yeah, that's right!"?? Former fellow competitors, athletes, peers? The silence is deafening. Even your input is soft and unconvincing to anyone without a dog in this. You really don't understand independent verification? You're not one of those suckers who believes everything he reads on the interwebs, are you?

What happened to your phony flower child shtick? Did the bile flow to your pen?

No, to my typewriter, Einstein.

I actually had a teammate who transferred from UTPA, wound up being all-conference at our P5 school and had nothing good to say about her time at UTPA. But hey, maybe just anecdotal sour grapes. Or more like Igoli's Booger.

Another guy of that same vintage equally cool was Pete Mundle. In fact, several of the SMTC ex-teammates and I got together that same year in 2006. Pete was one of them. He was a bachelor until late in life, and I had a chance to meet his lovely wife. As younger athletes Pete would let some us use the hot tub after a hard workout at his Matrina Del Rey apartment complex. At the time that was quite a treat. Pete was the masters stud in the 1970s, I could not close without a mention of Tom Sturak. Tom was another great masters runner of that era. Also trained with SMTC, but competed for the Souhtern California Striders; I belive more of an 800 meter 1500 meter guy, but like many of the masters then, even ran marathons. He married womens marathon great Jacqui Hansen, and was an early athlete rep for Nike. When I was in graduate school, Tom with a Phd in English would edit my papers, and Jacqui got my wife a job at a health insurance provider. Tom is gone as well, and fell victim to Alzheimers in his later years. I exchanged some emails with Jacqui following the passing of Laszlo Tabori, who I ran forin 1976, and who she remained very close to.

HRE wrote:

How many guys in their 70s do you think are following this thread? Ghost is one of a small number of people here who is older than I am. What claims about his running do you want verified? It's easy enough to look at results from Western Hemisphere or Boston. He mentions those performances. I can chime in with "Yeah, that's right."

To give you an example of the passage of time, if Orville Atkins was looking at this thread he'd be here with "Yeah, that's right." Steve Hoag might do that as well but they're both dead. again, what sort of verification are you looking for?

People he has coached or worked with are far younger and probably do visit this site. They can see his handle in the byline, if they can decipher the person behind its anonymous nature. It is what it is. If you want to appeal to the authority of people who won't, don't, or can't speak for themselves then do whatever gets you through the night. It's just not compelling to anyone else.

BOHICA wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

What happened to your phony flower child shtick? Did the bile flow to your pen?

No, to my typewriter, Einstein.

I actually had a teammate who transferred from UTPA, wound up being all-conference at our P5 school and had nothing good to say about her time at UTPA. But hey, maybe just anecdotal sour grapes. Or more like Igoli's Booger.

Fake news as you would say. I never had an male or female athlete transfer to a Power Five School.

Because of posters like you many people avoid this site. They refuse to subject themselves to character assasination.

More avoid it because of posters like you, so I see little reason for concern. The only person to vouch for you so far on this thread is someone who's never even met you, he's just happy you're over 70 like him. Did you drive all of your former athletes and assistants away from the sport, Igloi's Booger?