Runners Are Modern Day Gladiators Basically

As time elapses you will be surprised at how resilient your body can be if you give it time to reset.

For 53 of my 69 years I have pushed my body hard and have at times paid dearly for it. But intermittent periods of rest and rebuild always seem to allow continuance of being a runner.

Early on dreams of being an elite runner were the fuel that drove me, but the stars were not aligned for that. Instead a different value of the sport has been revealed to me as that of enjoying it for a lifetime. Embrace that; I think it's just as rewarding as a gold medal would be.

boxers ... wrote:Boxers are modern gladiators. Some say M.M.A. fighters. Anyone who grew up a boxing fan or anyone who boxed think kicking is girly.

You think Chuck Norris is "girly"? Bruce Lee?

Once that "girly MMA fighter" kicks, boxes, wrestles, the snot out of that one dimensional boxer you and the recently pummeled boxer would think otherwise.

fastboy77 wrote:

Anybody notice how surprising tough running can be on the body? I mean I'm only a young lad and from all the mileage so far in my career it already is hard for me to get down on my knees and sometimes walk down the stairs. I don't think I'm even going to be able to walk by the time I'm in my 30s.

Thoughts?

I've run a lot of miles and had my share of injuries but the modern-day gladiators? Pretty delusional.

We have combat sports like MMA where they literally beat the crap out of eachother. Seems a lot more like gladiators.

Or football, where 300lb men pumped full of roids, launch themselves at each other at unnatural speeds and cripple their body for life. I think your sore knees don't quite top that.

Spartacus! wrote:

boxers ... wrote:Boxers are modern gladiators. Some say M.M.A. fighters. Anyone who grew up a boxing fan or anyone who boxed think kicking is girly.

You think Chuck Norris is "girly"? Bruce Lee?

Once that "girly MMA fighter" kicks, boxes, wrestles, the snot out of that one dimensional boxer you and the recently pummeled boxer would think otherwise.

Yes. I boxed when I was in elementary school to first year in junior high school. I have always been average size. Boxing, not a school sport, I would get picked on and people had no idea. I knew how to fight the wrestlers. I did all I could to avoid being taken down by them. That did not always work out. The karate or other martial arts guys who kicked were easy opponents for me. Once I knew a kick was on the way, they were done. Men who kick are girly men.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?

Running a half marathon over 140 isn't fast though.

So?

The point was about not getting injured and/or injuries people have i guess comparable to gladiators.

Being fast or slow is only part of the equation.

Not sure why you felt it necessary to weigh in about my time, but it speaks more about you, than of me.

What's your best time?

59:42?

No?

1:06?

No?

Because if you aren't Ryan Hall or even Sergio Reyes, you're just an also ran, like I am.

This reminds me of my math teacher who made us solve an equation about him beating Opera's marathon PR.

fastboy77 wrote:

Anybody notice how surprising tough running can be on the body? I mean I'm only a young lad and from all the mileage so far in my career it already is hard for me to get down on my knees and sometimes walk down the stairs. I don't think I'm even going to be able to walk by the time I'm in my 30s.

Thoughts?

These young running snowflake kids are not made out of steel like we were. LOL

And my math teacher was a dude.

Sham 69 wrote:

This reminds me of my math teacher who made us solve an equation about him beating Opera's marathon PR.

Naughty spellcheck.

What it should have taught you is that your teacher finished a marathon, which is still an accomplishment. As kids, we used to respect accomplishments. The problem with your generation and social media is that you view the accomplishment as nothing because you don't know the teacher and feel that your 17:35 5k is so much better because your friends talk you up without even knowing what it feels like to even attempt the extra 23.1 miles.

Sham 69 wrote:

This reminds me of my math teacher who made us solve an equation about him beating Opera's marathon PR.

My 5K is about a minute better than that. I could go out the door right now and bang out a 3 hour marathon.

Well it's more that I don't even run half marathons but if I did breaking 1:40 would be a conservative goal. It's not comparable to a competitive time so of course the injury risk is low. 1:06 yeah that's fast.

Sham 69 wrote:

My 5K is about a minute better than that. I could go out the door right now and bang out a 3 hour marathon.

Yeah, I like to see that happen.

Hind, it will not happen.

Are you kidding?

You've got to be kidding.

First, if your PR is 16:30 at age 18, then you're roughly about one minute per mile faster than my 5k PR at age 41.

With the showboating you do here, I'd have expected better.

Your time would not even get you into a D1 school.

Secondly, if you have never attempted 26.2 miles (42.2k), you would not know how to recover or even deal with what you are feeling during miles 18-21.

You would not even know at what point you'd cramp up.

You're kind of full of it.

Are you serious? Brain damage from running.

Sham 69 wrote:

My 5K is about a minute better than that. I could go out the door right now and bang out a 3 hour marathon.

Go on then kid. Show us what a tough guy you are. Do it.

fastboy77 wrote:

Anybody notice how surprising tough running can be on the body? I mean I'm only a young lad and from all the mileage so far in my career it already is hard for me to get down on my knees and sometimes walk down the stairs. I don't think I'm even going to be able to walk by the time I'm in my 30s.

Thoughts?

Please read this.