I, a 45 year old hobby jogging man, feel increasingly silly for being a runner

In 4 years time the OP will be beat by Kenyan runner girls in the local 5k. He will be pounding tables in frustration and everyone will laugh at him and literally think he is a joke.

+1. also 66. The ROI of fitness from running is waaay more valuable than anything else. Enjoy.

[3.1]Miles Davis wrote:

You're not funny, your not clever,

PICK ONE

fromtheheart wrote:

The ROI of fitness from running is waaay more valuable than anything else. Enjoy.

Yeah, this I have to agree with. Maybe I'm just a hobby jogger now who can't catch old PRs that were never great anyway, but I'm a healthier person when I am training. I have been in and out of fitness enough to have a perspective on how my health is with and without running. Running is life. At this point I almost consider it irresponsible of me to not look after my health by running regularly.

Maybe I don’t have the right perspective as a college runner entering his prime, but to me the fact that an “old man” can legitamitely compete against people less than half their age is one of the things that makes our sport so unique and beautiful.

Gravy, race me. You got a quick mouth, but I bet you're slow AF on the track. Race me

vivalarepublica wrote:

I feel a bit weird as well, because I look way older than my years because I've been losing my hair since I was 20. I showed up at some open indoor meets this winter with my bald head and a very loud singlet (I like my loud singlets). But it felt good to finish 3rd in both races and reel in much younger competition that went out way too faster. Got plenty of congrats after that.

Who cares, really, nobody thinks about us as much as we think they think about us. I am having more fun running now than I ever did before.

Pics?

This has been a good thread. Yes, most would consider serious running, especially at the hobby level, and especially for an adult past his athletic prime, to be weird. Think about it: when you're dead, do you want people at your funeral to talk about your short shorts and all your medals from hobby jogger 5ks? We only have so much time on this earth, and we spend it strutting around in little shorts? Pure stupidity.

weird will wrote:

This has been a good thread. Yes, most would consider serious running, especially at the hobby level, and especially for an adult past his athletic prime, to be weird. Think about it: when you're dead, do you want people at your funeral to talk about your short shorts and all your medals from hobby jogger 5ks? We only have so much time on this earth, and we spend it strutting around in little shorts? Pure stupidity.

You're an a$$. How do you suggest people spend their free time in middle-age? The 5K hobby jogger will probably outlive most of his (non-running) friends, so the only people at his funeral will be his children and grandchildren. I'm sure they will remember him for more than his local race medals.

There is a 49 year old in our running community who does nothing but run. Well, he works, but he had no other interests, no children and is a total jerk.

At a race last summer, he didn't too well and was passed the last 200 meters by a female Kenyan. At the awards banquet, he was pounding the table in frustration, saying how he was going to "train his brains out and pound her in the ground next year."

If he only saw the people laughing at him. What a joke.

Coevett wrote:

weird will wrote:

This has been a good thread. Yes, most would consider serious running, especially at the hobby level, and especially for an adult past his athletic prime, to be weird. Think about it: when you're dead, do you want people at your funeral to talk about your short shorts and all your medals from hobby jogger 5ks? We only have so much time on this earth, and we spend it strutting around in little shorts? Pure stupidity.

You're an a$$. How do you suggest people spend their free time in middle-age? The 5K hobby jogger will probably outlive most of his (non-running) friends, so the only people at his funeral will be his children and grandchildren. I'm sure they will remember him for more than his local race medals.

I actually think it's a good discussion. We'll all die someday, and I think it's prudent to examine how we're spending our days/hours/minutes in light of this. Is running really the highest and best use of the limited time I have on this earth? Could I be doing something better or more useful?

I learned that being a hobby jogger was silly when I was 24. Better late than never I suppose. I was still winning local races in 15:00 5k times and collecting a few hundred dollars every so often when I realized it was silly. I suppose you real hobby joggers feel even more silly.

To clarify, there’s a difference between a hobby jogger and someone running for fun. A hobby jogger runs 50+mpw and does interval workouts and still sucks. Someone doing it for fun runs at most 20 miles a week at a leisurely jog and laughs with friends.

sbeefyk2 wrote:

I learned that being a hobby jogger was silly when I was 24. Better late than never I suppose. I was still winning local races in 15:00 5k times and collecting a few hundred dollars every so often when I realized it was silly. I suppose you real hobby joggers feel even more silly.

To clarify, there’s a difference between a hobby jogger and someone running for fun. A hobby jogger runs 50+mpw and does interval workouts and still sucks. Someone doing it for fun runs at most 20 miles a week at a leisurely jog and laughs with friends.

Someone has to run 50 MPW to qualify as a hobby jogger?

Dlopis wrote:

https://mgtvwfla.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/ap_9502250328.jpg?w=993

What are the name of the pink split tongue Asics spikes that Frank is wearing in this picture? I had those spike 25 years ago but can't remember what they were called.

Dlopis wrote:

There's grizzly old tough guy, and there's weirdo who can't let it go. I definitely fear I'm more the weirdo.

Someday, a photo like this will make Rupp look, well, like this;

https://mgtvwfla.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/ap_9502250328.jpg?w=993

I just laughed my butt off looking at that picture. Then I realized that's what I look like at every neighborhood 5k when I show up in my little shorts and singlet, getting ready to race people half my age. I started crying.

It's definitely time to take up a new hobby. Geez, what a depressing look in the mirror.

I know a 42 yr old guy who won our local July 4th 5k in 16:50 on a hot and hilly course. That's inspirational rather than something to be embarrassed about. In fact I wish former elites and sub-elites would continue to run competitively into their 40s and 50s, even if it's just local races. It would make those races a lot more interesting even with the inevitable decline in performance.

laughing til I cry wrote:

Dlopis wrote:

There's grizzly old tough guy, and there's weirdo who can't let it go. I definitely fear I'm more the weirdo.

Someday, a photo like this will make Rupp look, well, like this;

https://mgtvwfla.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/ap_9502250328.jpg?w=993

I just laughed my butt off looking at that picture. Then I realized that's what I look like at every neighborhood 5k when I show up in my little shorts and singlet, getting ready to race people half my age. I started crying.

It's definitely time to take up a new hobby. Geez, what a depressing look in the mirror.

I was jogging with Frank the other day and this very subject came up. “Lo,” sez he (Frank always calls me Lo) “I can’t deny these flatbellies can circumnavigate the macadam or tour the Tartan at a goodly rate, but are they having fun? Back when Batchie (that’s what Frank always called Jack Bacheler) and I were regularly notching 140s, it didn’t seem like work or a job. We’d hit the track with Licky (that’s what Frank always called Marty Liquori), or do long runs with Galley Slave (that’s what Frank always called Jeff Galloway) getting ready for cross natties or Millrose indoors or one of Pre’s dooddaddies (he always called Steve Prefontaine “Pre”) or just to race that crazy lovable goofball (that’s what Frank always called Lindgren). Anyhoo, as good as they are, these youngsters like Busey Jr. (that’s what Frank always called Ryan Hall) or Dork Vader (that’s what Frank always called Galen Rupp) don’t have two things we had – a sense of comraderie, and medals. The former can be gotten in a local running club. The latter can only be gotten in The Big Show (that’s what Frank always called the Olympics). Capiche, Lo, capiche?”

Frank Taller wrote:

Dlopis wrote:

https://mgtvwfla.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/ap_9502250328.jpg?w=993

What are the name of the pink split tongue Asics spikes that Frank is wearing in this picture? I had those spike 25 years ago but can't remember what they were called.

So, does anyone know the name of the Asics Frank is wearing? Help a guy out here...

laughing til I cry wrote:

Dlopis wrote:

There's grizzly old tough guy, and there's weirdo who can't let it go. I definitely fear I'm more the weirdo.

Someday, a photo like this will make Rupp look, well, like this;

https://mgtvwfla.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/ap_9502250328.jpg?w=993

I just laughed my butt off looking at that picture. Then I realized that's what I look like at every neighborhood 5k when I show up in my little shorts and singlet, getting ready to race people half my age. I started crying.

It's definitely time to take up a new hobby. Geez, what a depressing look in the mirror.

Do you also laugh at disabled athletes competing in the paralympics and disability sport?

We shouldn't be feeding your troll posts. You're probably the same one who appears in every masters thread telling us we should all go die and such. I assume you're a 16 year old brat with some weird hatred of older people. Maybe you were abused by your dad or an older relative. Maybe you were outkicked and humiliated by a 70 year old in a local 5K and you can't get over it. Or maybe you're just a typical Millennial who is so self-obsessed you can't bear the thought that one day very soon you're going to be getting old too.

Many philosophers define humans as distinct from animals through our capacity to see ourselves over time. Snowflake millennials are actually losing their humanity.