Other Purpose wrote:
HRE wrote:So if I devote my life to running, pile on the miles, the proper hard sessions, the proper recovery and so on yet never break 31:00 for 10,000 meters, I and those who know me will be at a loss to understand why world class training hasn't made me at least a national class athlete and we'll probably eventually agree that I just had "bad genes." Maybe I do. But maybe there are other factors that limited my performances. Maybe I want success too badly and try too hard, ultimately impeding my performances in massive ways. Maybe I'm just a wussy who can't push himself through any sort of pain barrier. Maybe there's some whole other aspect of performance that we ignore.
On the other hand, once someone is successful we generally agree that s/he must have "good genes." That becomes a truly self contained argument.
HRE, every runner gets to a certain lifetime best and does not progress from there. It's the same with stand up comics, chefs, and mathematicians, as well as any other human endeavor. Some are good, a few are better, only one is best. Our skills are relative to each other. If, as a runner, you have trained to the point where you are faster than 999/1000 people in your area, you have accomplished something. No, that doesn't make you a champion, but it makes you a runner. The same is true of the farmer who works at his craft and getting more out of his land than 999/1000 people do in his area. Is he not a good farmer because his yield is not the most in the state, or the country? No, we would properly call him a farmer and respect his efforts and results.
I am not celebrating or endorsing mediocrity, but the result of years of effort is something very different than the ordinary person can do. I have several simple cheap reproduction posters of beautiful paintings on my wall at home and people often admire them. The artists are incredibly talented in comparison to the average person, but they are not the best in the world, or even artists with recognizable names. Their work is admirable, just as is the work of the guy who fixes my car. He isn't the city's or state's or nation's champion mechanic, but his skills are admirable and helpful to me.
Runners, because their efforts are so easily compared with times, are susceptible to losing some of the joy of their activity in a way that musicians, writers, or teachers aren't. Sure, look at the top to see where you are, but also look at everyone else. In a country of 300 million people, if you are in the top 3 million in an activity, you are in the top 1%. The top 300,000 is 1/1000. The top 30,000 is better than 9,999/10,000 people, etc. Celebrate your accomplishments. 31 and change for 10,000 meters is an accomplishment. Congratulations. You likely have a rarer skill than your teachers, car mechanics, the performers at your local coffee house, your doctor, the people who make the goods in the stores you shop in, and your bosses at work do in their fields.
May you have as much success in some other field of endeavor in your life and may you come to appreciate both of them as successes.
One of the best posts I've ever read on this site, or any other site for that matter.