Running bums: Sad or Admirable?

Relative to me you are PATHETIC. I ran sub 15 on 45 MPW while working the occasional 7 day / 80 hour+ work weeks. I finished two Sunday races, changed my clothes and then worked until 1am. TRUE STORY.

old and in the way wrote:

that is kind of pathetic.. I ran sub-16 on 80mpw, working full time and paying all my bills..

had no illusions that sub-16 was fast, either.. barely made top 50 in that road race..

hmp wrote:

I would say that it's a bit sad if your career revolves around your running & racing schedule if you're simply training to make OTs. If you're training to make the actual olympics, even if it's a little of a long shot, I say go for it since that's a once in a lifetime possibility and one that can make you a good amount of cash. However, I do believe that many of these "running bums" simply take these running store jobs to delay real life as much as possible. I really don't see any reason why one couldn't train at a high level and have a real full time job. It does take a bit of sacrifice but it's possible.

I think your CAREER is a bit sad, period... LIKE what do you do that's so not sad? Tell me. Post a link to your resume and I'll decide if maybe you'd be better off running and working less.

Do you really expect anyone to give you a copy of something as personal as their resume? Especially when they obviously said something to piss you off.

What we're really getting into here is a debate about the meaning of life. Most of the critiques of the "running bum" lifestyle have some implicit assumption that the meaning of life is security and stability as evidenced by their obsession with early retirement and strong but not lavish personal finances. The proponents of the running bum lifestyle are actually explicitly assuming that life is about the pursuit of happiness.

What's interesting is that the critiques never explicitly state their assumptions about life and likely aren't even aware of them. This isn't surprising though because they are supporting a lifestyle that is more or less the societal norm, i.e. the Leave It to Beaver American dream of being apart of the stable economic middle class. They're just doing what society, their parents, wives, the television or friends have told them to do and as a result have never taken amount to reflect on what their chosen paths say about their priorities. On the other hand, those who chose to question the norm must necessarily answer the hard but important questions of what's important to me and what do I want out of life.

I like the sentiment but I think the nature of the sport has changed so much that it is close to impossible to compete at the highest national class level (challenging for an olympic birth) while having a full time job in today's professional athletic world.

Guys working 9 or 10 hour days are at a pretty big disadvantage when they are competing against guys like Rupp, Ritz, Lagat, Solinsky, Jager, etc who basically have nothing to do all day except train and rest up for more training. Now, as discussed in great length here, post-collegiate who aren't good enough to go fully pro could take jobs at a running store in order to try to level the playing field against guys like Ritz and Rupp but you will probably have to put your life on hold for about four to eight years and it does become a bit sad after a while.

+1

I think being a running bum in your 20s compared to living a more traditional lifestyle in your 20s really won't make a significant change in your quality of life and hell, you will probably be even happier in your 20s being a "running bum". When I talk these young running bums at the local running store and in our running community they seem to stay the same stuff I've heard on here "I don't need a big house or a nice car" and I understand because I was the same way 20 years ago. However, I think when they hit 30 or 35 and the running bum lifestyle is getting old they will want some of this stuff. And I know people think it's easy to start a career at 30 but really it isn't as easy as you think. Companies wan't fresh faced college graduates to stick into their entry level positions, people they can pay little and immerse in the company culture.

Many running bums (same goes for surf bums and the such) aren't thinking long term.

Agreed. This goes way beyond the "running bum" question. This is a debate about what your priorities in life should be. And wouldn't you know it, the majority of the time when someone is yammering about what your priorities should be, it closely resembles the path that they themselves have chosen. You can't have a rational debate with someone when you directly challenge the major life decisions of each other's lives. Focus on your own priorities and what makes you happy, and quit obsessing about/comparing yourself to other people, their financial status, career path, kids/no kids, etc. If people would keep that little mantra in mind, it would make life a lot easier.

Being a bum in the running world is not fun. You're either an olympian or a olympic hopeful (the equivalent of being All-Pro in the NFL) or you're making $9.50 an hour at your local running store. For money making sports like basketball, baseball, football or soccer there are minor leagues all around the world where non-elite players can go for a few years out of college and make a decent living. We got nothing in running.

Ah yes. In other words the question and premise of this thread is inherently misguided.

Running bum lyifstyle, I get the running bit thats because you run. But saying because you work in a shop or are on minimun wage you are a bum is a bit strange.

so eveyone who works in a shop is a bum. being a bum that can run a good marathon must be a bit better then. Not everyone can have a carear. Most peoples life is really in their mind and spirit and most people that run have a decent amount of life going on.

At what salary do you consider to be a good career when you are no longer a bum $20 per hour or is that a bum??

just wondered.

UK Limey runner wrote:

"I wish I had spent more time at work."

Said no man on his deathbed ever.

No, but I'm sure plenty of people had thought the following:

- I wish I could have traveled more

- I wish I could have paid for my kids college education

- I wish I could have raised my kids in a better neighborhood

- I wish I could have spent more nice nights out with my wife

Money is not an end all, be all... but it allows for a lot of nice things in life. A lot of them aren't superficial.

I thought thiswould be about the Real running bums...those guys in the Back On My Feet project...getting the homeless guys to train and run

Come to think about it no runner would start a thread like this. being a non runner on lets run starting threads. That really is sad. What a bum!

I recon you you are fat!

sad truth wrote:

Being a bum in the running world is not fun. You're either an olympian or a olympic hopeful (the equivalent of being All-Pro in the NFL) or you're making $9.50 an hour at your local running store. For money making sports like basketball, baseball, football or soccer there are minor leagues all around the world where non-elite players can go for a few years out of college and make a decent living. We got nothing in running.

this right here. You're probably better off working full time than trying to live on poverty wages as far as living situation, healthcare, food, etc. go.

I find running bums to be the most screwed people in da world but the lifestyle is great

Really, how many people are legitimately challenging for Olympic berths? Nearly all of the ones who are have shoe contracts and can pull down prize and appearance money. They're fine and not really the people this thread is about.

The thread is more about people who maybe at their highest level of achievement may qualify for the Trials or maybe even just come sort of close to doing it. Or maybe it's even about people who just love the sport and want to stick around it and that's not as hard to do as people make it out to be now. So sure, maybe a 2:17 marathoner with a job would be a 2:16 guy on full time training.

But maybe not. Rodgers used to talk about how no one with a job was ever going to beat him and I believe that was true during his best years. BUT his best marathon as a pro was all of 29 seconds faster than his best marathon as a guy with a full time job.

dfddddddd wrote:

UK Limey runner wrote:

"I wish I had spent more time at work."

Said no man on his deathbed ever.

No, but I'm sure plenty of people had thought the following:

- I wish I could have traveled more

- I wish I could have paid for my kids college education

- I wish I could have raised my kids in a better neighborhood

- I wish I could have spent more nice nights out with my wife

Money is not an end all, be all... but it allows for a lot of nice things in life. A lot of them aren't superficial.

I forget who said "I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better." I wouldn't argue.

But most people by far don't get rich even if they start their careers at 22 and rather than delaying them for a few years so they can run seriously, ski, play minor league baseball, hitch hike around the world or whatever. There are all sorts of stories in the media now about the really large number of Americans who are not very far from retirement age but who don't have enough money to retire. How many of them do you really think are in that boat because they worked part time twenty some years ago so they could run 120 mile weeks?

Most people kind of squeak by financially. If that's what I'm going to do it might make sense for me to arrange my life so that I enjoy as much of it as I can rather than pass up things I like doing in the potentially futile hope that doing so will have me rolling in dough at some distant future time.

I agree with what HRE is saying to a point. However, in my personal experience I have seen running hold back these "running bums" from pursuing great opportunities.

Out of college I lived the running bum lifestyle and it was exciting but at times lonely and hard. One day I got an email from a fellow alumni who I talked to in the past offering me a position at a company that would pay me a very considerable amount of money working in a very well known and innovative company. I accepted the job offer but unfortunately had to give up running 100 mile weeks on a consistant basis since I was now working 12 hours every day.

Fast forward two years and this same alumni asked if there was anybody who I thought would be a good match for the company. I told him about a fellow runner I knew in high school and ran against in college. He had an MBA and an undergrad degree, both from ivy league schools. We interviewed him and my boss liked him but after learning the hours the guy said no- later telling me it was because the long working days wouldn't allow him to run as much as he would like. Fast forward 3 years later and this guy is still working at a running store and ten minutes off OT marathon qualifying time.

The point being that if you really have no prospects then I say take a job paying minimum wage and go for the running goals. But if you get a good offer to do something you love (pays well doesn't hurt) don't let running hold you back. Don't let life pass you by.

I agree with most of what you say. I just want to add that you don't need to be "rich" to do most of what I listed. You just can't be "poor". I don't want someone young person thinking that "not needing a big house or a nice car" means that they don't need to think about their future. There are a lot of important, fulfilling things that you can do if you have a solid career that don't revolve around material objects.