I've never really liked running.  I did it because I was good at it. Anyone else the same

Riding around on your bike hour after hour, day after day….there are better ways to live life 30-60 min a day and I am good

So what? There are others that continue running for decades after college. I worked with guys that played college golf that no longer played at all. Agassi and Graf hate tennis so much that they encouraged their son, who probably has the best tennis genes in world history, not to play.

Then don't run.

I suspect that running in college felt like a job. It is pretty well documented that once you starting paying people for something they did for fun a lot of joy gets sucked out of it. (In your case if it was not fun to begin with then the drop makes it bad.)

You can do plenty of other things to stay active and be healthy and still watch the sport. I mean millions don't play football and watch every weekend that it is on.

Running was definitely my best sport (which is not saying a lot) and I genuinely enjoyed running and miss it greatly (arthritic knee stopped me).

It felt like a job because it was. You were paid (guessing a fair amount) to do it. Otherwise, why go through the relatively masochistic Miles of Trials unless you actually like feeling the pain every day?

That being said, I personally still do it for the endocannabinoid and (debatable) endorphin effects. Plus, it's part of the reason why I still get legitimately carded at ~50, although I stopped racing and doing marathons ~15yrs ago, and I swear I looked older then at times, especially at the end of summer.

Wow. I didn't realize this was pretty well documented. I initially wrote in my post above that I had a number of passions where I got good enough to get paid for them, and when that happened, it started feeling like a chore and sucked the passion out. I envy those who have businesses revolving around what they're passionate about and have it not disappear.

I basically feel the same. I barely ran a step for 10 years or so. Luckily, I've been able to reconnect enough to run my 15-20 mpw purely for fitness/not dying young. If you are going to exercise, very few activities offer the efficiency of 30 minutes running.

I still pretty much hate every step, but i recognize now how much better I feel after doing it. ymmv, you couldn't pay me to compete again. Sounds like we have similar PRs. I think its pretty normal to feel the way you do.

Do you also hate coitus?

Back in my high school days one of our state's top runners, who I know got at least one state XC title and probably some on the track too, would tell anyone that asked that he could not stand running. But he was obviously good at it, so he kept at it. He also went to a major D1 power school. I honestly don't have anything bad to say about someone who decides to do something they've got talent in even if they don't really like it. Sometimes it's just how things are.

Just looked the guy up -- a grand total of 8 state titles. Just about completely undefeated in our state his junior and senior years. Not bad for a guy who hated every minute of it.

Way back in the day I had a ridiculously gifted runner on my college team.

He also ran in my district in high school. He was from a hick town and ran 1:49 for 800 in high school and won both that and the 1500 at the state meet.

He played basketball in the winter for base. lol.

Ran great his frosh year in college and peaced out back to his hometown never to be heard from again.

College me thought the dude was insane. He had the gift that all of us wanted and couldn't be bothered to use it. I let it grind my gears a touch.

Here I am now at 46 and whatever. Dude's heart wasn't into it and it's obvious that he had things more important to him in life than running. Kinda weird but good for that guy and I hope he doesn't regret his choices now. He likely doesn't.

This running thing is hard work. It's not just the running but follows you into the rest of your life. Your diet, staying in on Friday nights in college, for some being rail thin and when you add this all up you need to have real passion for the sport to make it worth your time.

Now, if distance runners had NBA contracts I think he would've stayed. lol. Unfrotunately, unless you're the creme de la creme you don't make jack and you'll be in a office most of your life anyway.

Do what you love, not what people not you think you should want.

Not too uncommon. Talent goes a long way and it’s hard to ignore it even if your heart was never all there. I feel like anyone capable of a sub-4 mile would have a hard time not pursuing running for at least a little while even if they didn’t “love” it

Wow, I completely missed (or totally forgot??) that those two were married. Thanks for the genuine and so very special "Mandela effect" feeling!

As for running 100 mpw while hating the training, I don't get it, because I'm a low mileage runner and I certainly wouldn't run if I didn't enjoy it. I was apparently quite talented back in middle school, but certainly not WW elite level and life circumstances made me give up competitive running before I even turned 14 yo, lol. So I can't relate.

Took up running as a hobby 30 years later. It's great and I still enjoy it, including the camaraderie, even though I never came close to my PR again.

A hard time resisting social pressure, you mean?

It's not hard at all to resist if you don't have the passion, masochistic persistence and/or the physical aptitude to build up to 100 mpw. Most peeps would just get a life and never look back. I guess in the OP's case, money (free tuition) was the main factor not to go the easy way.

see my response would be, are you seriously depressed? buddy of mine who set all the junior high distance records 800-3200 for our school (then didn't do it at HS), then was a select national champion and all-state at soccer, quit sports entirely after finishing juco. i couldn't even get him to men's league. dear friend of mine but like he just got a job and hangs out with his wife. no kids where he needs to be home all the time. if it was about soccer and running, he didn't pick up some new sports with age like even i did.

i get where maybe x wasn't your favorite but was your meal ticket. i get saying i've had enough x. i get an injury ends x. but if there is no "y" that you take up instead, family, demanding job, new hobbies or sports, i wonder if you are depressed. you put a bunch of time into x. you got good at it. most people don't accomplish that without affection for some aspects of x. being outdoors. flying through the air. etc.

so, are you sure you hate x or do you just hate everything right now, because that's depression talking. and even if it's true, you got where you are as a driven person, that drive wants to express, find your new positive y.

also, a lot of folks post-college just keep doing the same thing. to me you need a new challenge or it's a xerox of a xerox. field events, hurdles, different distances. there is no coach anymore milking specific talents regardless whether they make you happy. maybe you wanted to be a jumper, etc. no one can tell you no anymore, or channel your talents.

also, people make fun of the "participation trophy" concept, but this is actually an argument in its favor. in, say, norway, they just have recreational type gatherings for kids who like a sport, through early teen years. then you specialize and compete. to hang around that long without the dopamine hit of literal "winning," to me, promotes affection for what you are doing. that passion then carries you through the workload.

in the US i had parents visibly angry at me for making multiple errors in an inning in 5 year old tee ball. i had speed and an arm it turns out. baseball never saw me again. personally i think the way we run sports in this country is nuts. too much experience with the 10 year old juggle king prodigies who never even made HS varsity in soccer because they were glacially slow.

OP, where you ridiculously talented where an average run felt effortless? Like you were floating along.....or were you more of a grinder?

I suspect you were ridiculously talented and only really had to push yourself in races/hard workouts. That running wasn't a physical grind but rather a mental one.

OP, how say u?

And that is exactly why parents should stop pushing their elementary school “track stars” to constantly race especially if they’re really fast. Happens all the time. I just saw a video on IG with a father beside himself because his 8 yr old daughter got some kind of record. the chances that she continues in HS at this rate is slim. Let alone college. Burn out is a huge risk.

This will definitely change over time as you get older. There's a difference between "running" and competing.

I was pretty similar, gravitated towards it because I was very good at it. Ran in college, then stopped for 10 years or so. I've picked it back up, largely as a way to deal with anxiety. I also have no chance of being as good as I used to be, so the "talent" has gone away.

I enjoy running far more now at 40 than I did at 20. I have a far greater appreciation for being healthy and just being able to go out for a run on a nice day.

No shame in being honest, and you're not the only one who feels that way. In fact, I'm willing to bet that 90% of elite runners have NOT enjoyed or liked runner at some point in their careers. There's a well known retired Olympian who coaches out west, and I overheard him talking to some other coaches at a meet last year and he said "You don't pick to be a runner, it picks you". The true test of success at being an elite runner is the ability to understand the training process and being able to manage the "pain" and or "discomfort" on a daily basis. Not everyone can do this over time. High School, College, and Pro covers 8-10 years if not more depending how good a pro you are.