In denial about the death of my college running career

Leaving college running was truly the happiest day of my running life.

Can't believe anyone thought is was fun after the first two years of having coaches screw around with your training,6:30 morning runs, forced to run events you didn't want to run, missing every weekend September - May with all the action back at campus while you are sitting miles away at some dreary golf course or track with the same annoying sprinters and high jumpers, week after week.

Running post was the most enjoyable. Deciding how and when you are going to train, quit doing the stuff you hate - like 20x some stupid hill or the mandatory 15 mile Sunday run; go to the races you like, when you feel ready and nobody to give you the dissapointed look or lecture on the days that you suck.

running became fun again. you'll see.

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legally blonde wrote:

Leaving college running was truly the happiest day of my running life.

Can't believe anyone thought is was fun after the first two years of having coaches screw around with your training,6:30 morning runs, forced to run events you didn't want to run, missing every weekend September - May with all the action back at campus while you are sitting miles away at some dreary golf course or track with the same annoying sprinters and high jumpers, week after week.

Running post was the most enjoyable. Deciding how and when you are going to train, quit doing the stuff you hate - like 20x some stupid hill or the mandatory 15 mile Sunday run; go to the races you like, when you feel ready and nobody to give you the dissapointed look or lecture on the days that you suck.

running became fun again. you'll see.

Thank you for this post. Especially your last sentence.

legally blonde wrote:

Leaving college running was truly the happiest day of my running life.

Can't believe anyone thought is was fun after the first two years of having coaches screw around with your training,6:30 morning runs, forced to run events you didn't want to run, missing every weekend September - May with all the action back at campus while you are sitting miles away at some dreary golf course or track with the same annoying sprinters and high jumpers, week after week.

Running post was the most enjoyable. Deciding how and when you are going to train, quit doing the stuff you hate - like 20x some stupid hill or the mandatory 15 mile Sunday run; go to the races you like, when you feel ready and nobody to give you the dissapointed look or lecture on the days that you suck.

running became fun again. you'll see.

Many of us had way more fun than you did as a collegiate runner. I frankly don't care what's going on every Saturday in September. I'd rather be out on that golf course.

Don't feel bad, my college career ended after my sophmore year, but I still tried for 2 more frustrating years. Be glad for what you had, but embrace the change and make the best of it.

I still enjoy going to the track and doing sprint workouts. People probably think that I'm a crazy hardcore running guy but I don't think I am. I just like to stay in good sprinting shape.

legally blonde wrote:

Can't believe anyone thought is was fun after the first two years of having coaches screw around with your training,6:30 morning runs, forced to run events you didn't want to run, missing every weekend September - May with all the action back at campus while you are sitting miles away at some dreary golf course or track with the same annoying sprinters and high jumpers, week after week.

Holy shit, I'm going to miss that stuff. I had a blast.

A DI grad came to our practice last night. He is signed up to an infinite doctoral program at a local university. He ran 800 and split 1:52s this season in college. He was worried about not being about to run and keep up with his studies until he found that more than half the club in involved in the same kinds of "DI academics." I said, "Think of yourself five years from now splitting 1:55s. That would not be a failure because you have to compare that with guys who don't train and race and gain a pound a month drinking beer, eating burgers at bars while watching other men play sports on TV. That would be 12 pounds a year for five year or 60 pounds. That is your choice, not getting down to 1:48 and still being far from the four or five guys in the country who are actually commercial runners. So make your social life be training with these guys as a counterpoint to studying. You sit on your ass and study, then you go run your ass off with teammates. You don't watch sports or consume entertainment. Your running is your entertainment." At that moment the guys were involved in some kind of antics at my expense.

Tom

Great way to put it. I know some people who have signed up with their local track clubs who work full-time, and they have a blast. Wish I had something like that where I live. :-(

Jefe in the CO wrote:

It will round you out fitness wise, give your running a false sense of accomplishment and give you some life skills - like becoming a self absorbed prick

Oh now, don't be so modest! You were obviously already a self-absorbed pr#ck long before you ever started triathlons

ben folds wrote:

Jefe in the CO wrote:

It will round you out fitness wise, give your running a false sense of accomplishment and give you some life skills - like becoming a self absorbed prick

Oh now, don't be so modest! You were obviously already a self-absorbed pr#ck long before you ever started triathlons

yeah, but triathlons truly bring out self absorbedness and inner prick in people. I think these people fawn over themselves and their fellow trisexuals more than Hollywood stars at the academy awards. Not surprised in the least that Jefe was a try-guy.

This was the first year since I was 13 years old that I did not run competitively. At first I thought I would miss it, but part of life is being mature enough to accept situations that you are in, and move on. It's all about turning negatives into positives. I became liberated by the fact that I could still work out for fun, but also work out any way I felt like. It's kind of a nice feeling to not have to worry about the day's track workout or hard ten miler, and just be able to go out for a nice 5-miler. I'm still actively devoted to staying in shape just for the hell of it, but it's fun getting to do what I want. I sprint a lot now, just for fun. Find friends who looked up to your running and want to be in shape and drag them with you. Twice a week I go to the track with a friend and we do workouts of repeat 300s, or 200s, and sprints, just for fun. I also lift a lot more now, and it's fun seeing your emaciated body put on 10-20 pounds of muscle.

Learn to do things that give you strictly internal personal meaning, that don't necessarily lead to any external positive result. That's one of the keys to life.

ben folds wrote:

Jefe in the CO wrote:

It will round you out fitness wise, give your running a false sense of accomplishment and give you some life skills - like becoming a self absorbed prick

Oh now, don't be so modest! You were obviously already a self-absorbed pr#ck long before you ever started triathlons

You may be onto something here; trihackalons don't turn one into SAP's, maybe SAP's are attracted to trihackalons. It's becoming all too clear...

oh yeah wrote:

yeah, but triathlons truly bring out self absorbedness and inner prick in people. I think these people fawn over themselves and their fellow trisexuals more than Hollywood stars at the academy awards. Not surprised in the least that Jefe was a try-guy.

Yes there was a time when I strayed to the dark side but I never gave up my running roots. Now I'm back to just running with some swimming thrown in for old time sake.

Disclaimer: while I'm back to mostly running I have to disclose that I do my long runs and race in half tights. So, clearly, I'm not quite all the way back.