Are there running "dirtbags" in the same way as surfing or climbing?

It is the difference between a sport and an experience.

I have lived in my van on the road at least 6 months a year the last seven years, running, climbing and mountaineering. In my 60s alone I have had a lifetime of true wild life. Much more to come....

I've never heard the term "dirtbag runner." I remember the term "running bum," which was generally an unemployed or extremely underemployed guy in his twenties (sometimes older) who basically just ran and often ate, slept, and hung out with similar guys, sometimes in packed vans or cars. In the '70s and early '80s, there were tons of them. Maybe they had part-time jobs selling running shoes, waiting on tables, running races with prize money or under-the-table appearance fees, acting as coaching or teaching assistants, helping to put on races, or acquiring crummy little shoe "sponsorships." But they didn't want (or, apparently, need) much more. Some of them, like Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers, made millions (yes, literally millions) as amateur athletes. Most, I assume, the financial rewards of running to be approximately nonexistent and eventually found more gainful employment.

The number may have peaked with the 1983 Boston marathon. I sensed that it cratered beginning about a year later, when shoe companies cut contracts of good local runners (and runners who didn't make the '84 Olympic team) and put more money into a few athletes who could realistically make an Olympic team and compete with more talented international runners. Also, with the introduction of over-the-table payments, more really good runners, from places like East Africa, started to show at races to pick up the crumbs. Races did start offering more financial incentives for American runners, but to me, it simply emphasized how far the competitive side of this sport had fallen.

Ski bums, I think, do much better.

Are there running "dirtbags"

There's this one, the undisputed King of Dirtbags:

phillymag.com

“Boston Marathon Dad” Mike Rossi Attacks Cops, Gets Probation

https://www.facebook.com/victor.fiorillo.5

Yet another installment in the saga of the man accused of cheating to get into the Boston Marathon.

Open link

cool story, thanks for sharing

Was thinking about him too, but didn't he get a girlfriend and buy a house after his famous free solo?

I have heard from a good source that Eric van Ingen was living out of his car for a period of his post-collegiate/chasing a professional running career.

The Robertson twins were the ultimate example of that. They left everything to go to Kenya. Slept on the floor for months and suffered with malaria to pursue their dreams.

Fred Becky, great northwest US climber who kind of defined the term.

Climbed into his 90’s, died several years ago…

thats hilarious

good example from what ive read they survived off the kindness of others while in those camps. Really hope Zane only took EPO once at the end of his career and not during. I will say this; living in kenya, they obviously trained with athletes that used drugs and won many races and championships. However, they probably knew and lived with many athletes in Eldoret and Iten that abused EPO and DID NOT see fast times; only drug busts, health complications, and sometimes death. You would hope that the likelihood of them hearing and seeing those things happen that they would think twice before partaking. A lot of athletes abuse EPO but rlly, how many of those athletes reap the benefits of doping before they are popped or have too many side effects that prevent them from competing? There is a great video by Unreported World called 'The Betrayal of Kenya's Athletes', that show the dark untold side of the doping problem in Kenya.

Oh yeah....same with Robbins, Chouinard and the rest. Money changes everything.

I think there's two other factors at play that haven't yet come up:

1. Time - most folk can run for a lot less time per day than surf or climb. Even if you add on the most rigiorous weights/stretching regime, you've probably still got time for a part-time job.

2. OCD/high functioning-ness - running lends itself to people who can handle routine. It's not particularly creative. And smoking a lot of pot would be prohibitively detrimental. That kind of person is less likely to want to be a dirtbag and is also probably better equipped to handle working life (than most of the climbers I know anyway - no idea about surfers).

It was much more common in the past. The late Barry Brown and marathoner Steve Benson come to mind. Places like Boulder had a number of ex-college athletes hanging out to train. And in the 1970s and early 1980s, that was about the only way to make it because there were not professional runners and prize money until 1981-82. Plus it was a time when a lot of young people stepped out for a few years to pursue a dream like running. It's a lot harder now.

Surprised the “Boulder Bro” guy hasn’t chimed in. I lived there for a few years and can confirm it’s the dirtbag capital - runners, climbers, ski/snowboard, hippies, etc. Although quite a few were secretly wealthy, so it wasn’t really a true lifestyle for them.

I am unsure it is really a lot harder now, it is just different. There may have been more people willing to do it in the late '70s and early '80s for varying reasons, though there has been sort of a revival of late. Twenty years ago, you could easily count the number of elite level groups in town on one hand. Now, it is closer to a dozen. As half or more of Boulder's former residents would gladly tell you, "Boulder is played out." There still exists student housing that is run-down and relatively inexpensive if you coordinate to cram people in and quietly side-step the local housing ordinances. Ditto places out in Gunbarrel. There is also Drew Hunter's house by Pleasant View, if you can qualify. For some reason, this thread brings to mind Jerry Lawson for me. Not exactly known as a dirtbag or running bum, more of a vagabond. He was reputed to work as a night stocker at Safeway during his altitude training stints in Boulder.

They now have a house but they spent a few years living out of a van traveling to mountain bike races.

Marc Bloom, NY Times. January, 1988:

nytimes.com

On Your Own: Running; As Women Run More, Relationships Run Better (Published 1988)

By Marc Bloom

Open link

They were called ''running bums,'' and sports psychologists said they were consumed by a ''negative addiction.'' Women, themselves not yet bitten by the running bug, saw this consuming interest in mileage quotas and racing performance as the immature wanderlust of the male ego. Relationships suffered. Couples split. Serious runners were known for high divorce rates.

As has been said, the closest tunning equivalent to what the OP is talking about would likely be trail runners. Anton Krupicka comes to mind as one of the originals. He lived out of his truck in the summers and carved up shoes to lower their heel-toe drop while running insanely high mileage (150-200 mpw) and never wearing a shirt. Others in the ultra community exist surely, but Anton is certainly the one i think of. Not true of him today of course.