For many of the older professional distance runners it is apparent they need to move on in life. Continuing to hold that same dream for even another year seems pointless to me.
I don't mean to sound sarcastic or mean but, why is it any of you business how someone else conducts their life as long as it doesn't have a negative impact on you (or anyone else)?
For many of the older professional distance runners it is apparent they need to move on in life. Continuing to hold that same dream for even another year seems pointless to me.
I don't mean to sound sarcastic or mean but, why is it any of you business how someone else conducts their life as long as it doesn't have a negative impact on you (or anyone else)?
I certainly don’t care much, since that post was written several years ago. Perhaps you did not notice.
Yes! I've actually been thinking a lot about Shelley's "Ozymandias" recently. Through a very simple story, Shelley conveys the absurdity of trying to extend one's legacy through the collection of monuments, trophies, awards, and various other forms of self-flattery. Now, Ozymandias lives on almost entirely as Shelley's symbol of a cruel and rather ridiculous man whose pathetic legacy is a barely visible, disintegrating stone monument and its silly inscription in the middle of a desert. For others, that legacy may be a medal or a place on a school's hall of fame plaque.
This morning, I happened to see a portion of an interview (by Dan Rather, I believe) of Mike Tyson, who had spread out a bunch of his title belts and other awards on his couch or bed. Tyson picked up a few of the items, which rattled like cheap metal in a recycling bin. "This is garbage," Tyson said. When he was younger, accumulating those awards was the focus of his life. In later life, he said, that's just garbage, and what he cares about are the relationships with those he loves and the well-being of his children.
"Ozymandias" doesn't necessarily say much about whether someone should continue to compete in races after one's peak, or whether to stay involved in the sport in some other way, or to walk away from the sport altogether. But it does, I think, offer a wise perspective about what not to do or use as motivation for or validation of one's future direction.
This post was edited 14 minutes after it was posted.
Yes! I've actually been thinking a lot about Shelley's "Ozymandias" recently. Through a very simple story, Shelley conveys the absurdity of trying to extend one's legacy through the collection of monuments, trophies, awards, and various other forms of self-flattery. Now, Ozymandias lives on almost entirely as Shelley's symbol of a cruel and rather ridiculous man whose pathetic legacy is a barely visible, disintegrating stone monument and its silly inscription in the middle of a desert. For others, that legacy may be a medal or a place on a school's hall of fame plaque.
This morning, I happened to see a portion of an interview (by Dan Rather, I believe) of Mike Tyson, who had spread out a bunch of his title belts and other awards on his couch or bed. Tyson picked up a few of the items, which rattled like cheap metal in a recycling bin. "This is garbage," Tyson said. When he was younger, accumulating those awards was the focus of his life. In later life, he said, that's just garbage, and what he cares about are the relationships with those he loves and the well-being of his children.
"Ozymandias" doesn't necessarily say much about whether someone should continue to compete in races after one's peak, or whether to stay involved in the sport in some other way, or to walk away from the sport altogether. But it does, I think, offer a wise perspective about what not to do or use as motivation for or validation of one's future direction.
One of my best races was 50 years ago. I won a rather large trophy that had been recycled by Bob Denies from a Palos Verdes Marathon win in the previous year or two. My wife broke off a piece of the trophy with her vacuum cleaner. I got tired of moving it in our early years of marriage, and recycled it again. I did the same to a youth track club to all but a handful of special awards.
Sure, cut out the booze and drugs. Dry out. Pretty simple. Once you do that your behavior will improve. Plus think of all the money you will stop wasting. Your friends and family might respect you again.
For many of the older professional distance runners it is apparent they need to move on in life. Continuing to hold that same dream for even another year seems pointless to me.
Look for many to not have a choice but to move on after 2024. Cuts by shoe companies will be made at the end of the year
This morning, I happened to see a portion of an interview (by Dan Rather, I believe) of Mike Tyson, who had spread out a bunch of his title belts and other awards on his couch or bed. Tyson picked up a few of the items, which rattled like cheap metal in a recycling bin. "This is garbage," Tyson said. When he was younger, accumulating those awards was the focus of his life. In later life, he said, that's just garbage, and what he cares about are the relationships with those he loves and the well-being of his children.
Well, I'm sure he still cares about the $$$ and fame he got along with the garbage.
For many of the older professional distance runners it is apparent they need to move on in life. Continuing to hold that same dream for even another year seems pointless to me.
Look for many to not have a choice but to move on after 2024. Cuts by shoe companies will be made at the end of the year
I believe I wrote this at the time of the 2021 Olympic Trials, so I assume as you, this is likely to be true for many.
If you felt fine with playing around at being a middling coach for decades at dead end programs in backwater conferences for far lower pay than your peers then I think you can let post-collegiate runners of an equivalent level do the same. Did your parents not get after you to use your college degree for something with higher financial reward?
Two days ago for something I did decades ago. Unfortunately your mark in this World is a big fat zero.
If you're making your living from the sport is it really a dream? And if you're making your living doing something you really like doing why would you quit doing it to start doing something you don't like as well? Why wouldn't you keep doing it for as long as you can. Look at other professional sports and you see guys hanging on for as long as someone will give them a uniform and a paycheck.
NBA minimum salary is $1.16 million. Running is free gear.
If you're making your living from the sport is it really a dream? And if you're making your living doing something you really like doing why would you quit doing it to start doing something you don't like as well? Why wouldn't you keep doing it for as long as you can. Look at other professional sports and you see guys hanging on for as long as someone will give them a uniform and a paycheck.
NBA minimum salary is $1.16 million. Running is free gear.
Last night in Pittsburgh while the Cubs were hammering the Pirates, the Pirates brought 33 year old Bradley Feigl in at pitcher. He signed with Atlanta as an undrafted free agent out of Mt. St. Mary, not a college baseball power, and spent a dozen or so years bouncing around other other MLB organizations and independent minor league teams never getting to the majors until Pittsburgh picked him up, had a good year in Indianapolis, and got called up yesterday.
Yes, he got hammered last night and I'm sure many, many, people would have told him he should have moved on in life and he might have a bunch more money if he had done that. But last night he got to do something that all of us who played organized baseball dreamt of doing. His parents were there, overjoyed. His mum couldn't stop crying she was so happy and after the game he said he was thrilled despite how badly it went. Not everything is about money.
Last night in Pittsburgh while the Cubs were hammering the Pirates, the Pirates brought 33 year old Bradley Feigl in at pitcher. He signed with Atlanta as an undrafted free agent out of Mt. St. Mary, not a college baseball power, and spent a dozen or so years bouncing around other other MLB organizations and independent minor league teams never getting to the majors until Pittsburgh picked him up, had a good year in Indianapolis, and got called up yesterday.
Yes, he got hammered last night and I'm sure many, many, people would have told him he should have moved on in life and he might have a bunch more money if he had done that. But last night he got to do something that all of us who played organized baseball dreamt of doing. His parents were there, overjoyed. His mum couldn't stop crying she was so happy and after the game he said he was thrilled despite how badly it went. Not everything is about money.
He also gets over $4000 for being on the roster that day, and another $4K for every day he sticks around until he's optioned or designated for assignment. Not a bad payoff after a career of playing for relative peanuts as most minor leaguers do.
Last night in Pittsburgh while the Cubs were hammering the Pirates, the Pirates brought 33 year old Bradley Feigl in at pitcher. He signed with Atlanta as an undrafted free agent out of Mt. St. Mary, not a college baseball power, and spent a dozen or so years bouncing around other other MLB organizations and independent minor league teams never getting to the majors until Pittsburgh picked him up, had a good year in Indianapolis, and got called up yesterday.
Yes, he got hammered last night and I'm sure many, many, people would have told him he should have moved on in life and he might have a bunch more money if he had done that. But last night he got to do something that all of us who played organized baseball dreamt of doing. His parents were there, overjoyed. His mum couldn't stop crying she was so happy and after the game he said he was thrilled despite how badly it went. Not everything is about money.
He also gets over $4000 for being on the roster that day, and another $4K for every day he sticks around until he's optioned or designated for assignment. Not a bad payoff after a career of playing for relative peanuts as most minor leaguers do.
Yes, and he hung in there for more than a decade living on peanuts rather than stop doing something he loved for a lot more peanuts. Some things can be worth living on peanuts for a while.
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