Posters over 40, what is your biggest regret?

I'll give you two:

1) Skipping my senior-year state meet in high school because I had to take the SAT that particular day, which would ensure my significant scholarship to private college;

2) Stepping away from running for most of 20 years to focus on school and career, with my wife staying home full time with the kids (shouldn't have stepped back as much as I did).

In hindsight, I'm not sure I would have done much differently, because I'm in a damn good place, but I would have thought harder about those choices and tried to figure out alternative approaches.

Precious Roy wrote:

I spent a lot of time screwing around trying to make it as a musician. I generally do not have any regrets because at that time in my life I just wasn't ready to for a normie 9/5 life. But it took a long time to cross the bridge from the music world to the normie world. I was 33 with no savings for retirement when I first got a normie job. I did not have a kid until I was 40. I have managed to catch up reasonably well, but wish that I had not hung on as long. .

I bet big money if you had done 9-5 right after college you'd be regretting not going for it as a musician and living a little in your 20s.

Not Steve Jobs wrote:

Going to college, it was a huge waste. At the very least I should have taken gap year(s), maybe done a short military stint to push me out of my comfort zone and give me some better perspective for direction. I'm in a good place now in terms of career and home life, so I guess the path I took has ultimately been worth it. I just had to squander a lot of opportunity and resources and go through some dark times to get here, that's chiefly where my regrets lie.

What do you do now?

otter wrote:

I had a really good shot of making the Olympics in downhill skiing. I could not even watch the winter Olympic games until many years later.

Did you not even try out? I don't understand. You were an amazing skiier but didn't try out? Why not?

1-Not learning to play a musical instrument.

2-Not learning how to dance.

3-Not learning how to cook.

4-Letting fear of rejection keep me from pursuing certain women.

I spent way too many hours of my 20s and 30s sitting around track meets watching heat after heat of 200s and 1600s and 800s and 3200s and...

We have such a small window of time to enjoy being young, both as runners and as people, and I'd love to have a few hundred of those track meet hours back.

Age 18, first-ever road marathon, had recently run a 1:21 half. Went out in 1:23, with no idea what the hell I was doing. Surprising no one, ever, couldn't hold it to the end, ran a 1:40 second half, finished in 3:03 (3:03:11, since you asked). Always thought I would go back and break 3 with ease, never did (yet).

I have a great life. I have a great wife and two great kids and personal and professional success, and not tons of money but also no debt and a paid-for house, and really lack for nothing important and am incredibly thankful. In a year that has seen so much suffering and death for so many, it seems really, really silly that a race from the 1990s would be my biggest regret. But honestly, I think it is.

(Happy ending, I'm going to try to go sub-3 one last time this summer. Stay tuned.)

My biggest regret is NOT going out for XC in HS...I was on the track team but.......Did PV and Long jump.........I didnt get into running until I was 29........did well........and continue now in my 70 s.......Could have ran with Pre....???

used to be faster and smarter wrote:

Can be anything. Running, relationship, career, financial

Not recognizing my faults early on in my life or being too late in doing so OR realizing it now.?

I also regret not finishing grad school - I should have listened to my parents and finished it - but now it's too late

Thanks for the update and quick reply. I'll be sure to keep an eye on this thread.

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Wished I would og taken running serious in HS....Started track soph year ran 53 400 and 204 800...Trained with the distance guys but rarely would hit 25 miles a week...And speed work was rare....Jr year I constantly broke 18 and again rarely logged 25 miles and never ran on the weekend....

Smoking weed heavily from the time I was a wee lad till about 20. Smoking cigarettes off and on from teens through age 40. Drinking heavily from teens through 40. Not taking up regular running till I was 45. I had fun, but my body probably looks like a used air filter from the inside.

I regret not quitting running sooner.

Kept training for years after I realistically should’ve stopped taking running so seriously and adjusted focus sooner.

The years of frustration, injury, and constant disappointment only managed to prepare me for one thing.... my marriage!

It's only too late when you're dead. Plenty of options including online. I'm starting grad school pt at age 56.

What I don't regret? Never lying to myself, never trying to be a phony, being obsessed with financial independence from an early age and starting my IRA at age 22.

old guy 75 wrote:

1-Not learning to play a musical instrument.

2-Not learning how to dance.

3-Not learning how to cook.

4-Letting fear of rejection keep me from pursuing certain women.

You can still learn to cook.

Chasing the running dream for too long. I deluded myself into believing that just one more year of financial sacrifice and dedicated training would make me elite. Before long, I was staring at 30 with no meaningful work experience and an outdated education while my college peers that quit competitive running were successful and making good money. That extended adolescent fantasy has hampered my career prospects and delayed my retirement window.

If you are not elite by age 25, it 's not going to happen. Run/race for fun, start a career, find a mate, and get on with life.

Ever paying 1 penny to Adventure Corpse for Badwater. It was the real deal when it was free. Ever since Kris Krotchman took over it has been an ever worsening pay to play clown parade of ego maniacs.