I agree with this. We should all keep a running log. I did keep one for years and it is fun to double-check paces, results, mileage, etc. --- I still train with the same running buddies from college (I am 50 now), and we all have pretty thorough training logs that we can refer to. Now I use Garmin for daily runs and only write down special workouts and races.
While trying to dig up my PRs from my competitive running days 30-40 years ago, I realized that there is no record/evidence of me ever being a competitive runner. I can't find any of my times online, I don't have any videos of me running, and the only running swag I have is available to any hobby jogger who participated. I never won any major races, so my times weren't in any news articles either. I remember running a 2:0x 880 and a 4:3x mile, but I couldn't find out what my exact PRs really were in any distance from the 880-yard to the marathon.
I wish I could say that my competitive running fitness allowed me to accomplish other physically difficult tasks like climbing Everest or finishing an Ironman, but the truth is that I never did anything off the track that required that level of fitness. I just did half-day hikes, downhill ski runs on moderate terrain, and some kayaking and paddleboarding in calm waters.
I barely remember my rivals and wouldn't be surprised if they completely forgot about me. In any case, I have no idea how to contact them even if I wanted to, assuming they're still alive.
Any other oldies in the same boat? It feels weird that a 5:30 JV miler can find his results on milesplit and can watch a YouTube video of him running, but there's nothing comparable for guys like me who've run almost a minute faster in a previous generation.
That's exactly why I post my PRs here.
I.don't care if people believe they are real.
I don't give two sh*** what people think on this website.
i don't really like anyone here to the extent that i would not even join you or them for a run or a drink or anything.
Having said that, I post my times here in disputes because they are real, I earned them and as pedestrian as they are, I earned them.
When they bury my fat a** according to letsrun, people can look up the times here and make their decision if I lied. I'll be dead; I need not care.
So do that and stop whining.
Post your freaking times here and don't give a rat's whether or not people believe it.
I agree with this. We should all keep a running log. I did keep one for years and it is fun to double-check paces, results, mileage, etc. --- I still train with the same running buddies from college (I am 50 now), and we all have pretty thorough training logs that we can refer to. Now I use Garmin for daily runs and only write down special workouts and races.
+1. All my PRs are in the internet age (though at age 39 I'm probably about as old as you can be and say that), but in 30-40 years I won't be reminiscing via my implanted mind-link to the metaverse. I'll be looking at all my old race numbers and the notes and times I've scribbled on the back of each one.
I think your melancholy is not about the fact that your running accomplishments aren't documented. It's about the fact everything we do lacks any real meaning. The only thing sadder than that realization would be if finding an old high school time of yours in an old newspaper gave you joy. Be calm, be kind, enjoy your life. You're on the back end of life now, as am I. Let's march into the dirt with some dignity.
I've kept paper records, newspaper clippings, etc. for over 40 years for my own satisfaction. I don't even know where to start looking for electronic records of any meets that my kids have run. I fear that a lot of the digital data we trust to online storage just won't be retrievable in a few decades (or less).
I barely remember my rivals and wouldn't be surprised if they completely forgot about me. In any case, I have no idea how to contact them even if I wanted to, assuming they're still alive.
Any other oldies in the same boat? It feels weird that a 5:30 JV miler can find his results on milesplit and can watch a YouTube video of him running, but there's nothing comparable for guys like me who've run almost a minute faster in a previous generation.
If it's any consolation (I doubt it will be), I'm not optimistic that future generations will be much better off than you. Information online is very consolidated into walled-off gardens and only trending more and more that way. When a company dies, it usually takes the vast majority of its data with it, and even companies we take for granted as mainstays today can die within 40 years.
Concrete example - coolrunning.com. They were a huge archive of race results, many of them never published anywhere else, and then Active.com bought them and shut them down without even bothering to migrate the results to another system or provide a data archive that people could download. It's just gone. You can try to email them about a specific race on a specific date and they might respond, but that's about it. There's no reason to think the same couldn't happen to milesplit or any other similar site within the next 40 years. There's no accessing that Instagram video of the 5:30 JV miler, if Instagram shuts down.
I think your melancholy is not about the fact that your running accomplishments aren't documented. It's about the fact everything we do lacks any real meaning. The only thing sadder than that realization would be if finding an old high school time of yours in an old newspaper gave you joy. Be calm, be kind, enjoy your life. You're on the back end of life now, as am I. Let's march into the dirt with some dignity.
Nicely said,
I'm not a testament quoting kind of guy, but it's been said so well in Ecclesiastes 1, that starts out with:
"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
and ends with:
"There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things[e] yet to be among those who come after."
So the question becomes, of what value are they if any at all? For me, it is in the value you give them.
With this in mind, like 'Oh well', said, live for the experience, do what you do with character, appreciation, and pleasure. And perhaps the real value of those admirable things you have accomplished is in making you all you are and have become, which shouldn't be undervalued, either.
While trying to dig up my PRs from my competitive running days 30-40 years ago, I realized that there is no record/evidence of me ever being a competitive runner. I can't find any of my times online, I don't have any videos of me running, and the only running swag I have is available to any hobby jogger who participated. I never won any major races, so my times weren't in any news articles either. I remember running a 2:0x 880 and a 4:3x mile, but I couldn't find out what my exact PRs really were in any distance from the 880-yard to the marathon.
I wish I could say that my competitive running fitness allowed me to accomplish other physically difficult tasks like climbing Everest or finishing an Ironman, but the truth is that I never did anything off the track that required that level of fitness. I just did half-day hikes, downhill ski runs on moderate terrain, and some kayaking and paddleboarding in calm waters.
I barely remember my rivals and wouldn't be surprised if they completely forgot about me. In any case, I have no idea how to contact them even if I wanted to, assuming they're still alive.
Any other oldies in the same boat? It feels weird that a 5:30 JV miler can find his results on milesplit and can watch a YouTube video of him running, but there's nothing comparable for guys like me who've run almost a minute faster in a previous generation.
That's exactly why I post my PRs here.
I.don't care if people believe they are real.
I don't give two sh*** what people think on this website.
i don't really like anyone here to the extent that i would not even join you or them for a run or a drink or anything.
Having said that, I post my times here in disputes because they are real, I earned them and as pedestrian as they are, I earned them.
When they bury my fat a** according to letsrun, people can look up the times here and make their decision if I lied. I'll be dead; I need not care.
So do that and stop whining.
Post your freaking times here and don't give a rat's whether or not people believe it.
if you don't do that, then shut it.
it's that simple
5k PR: 19:35
8k PR: 33:23
10k PR: 42:27
HM PR: 1:41:10
Marathon PR: 4:09:58
1/2 marathon walking PR: 2:29 and change
You're likely quicker and so what
Post it and it's out there.
Was that really freaking difficult?
Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays, except that it's Wednesday.
I barely remember my rivals and wouldn't be surprised if they completely forgot about me. In any case, I have no idea how to contact them even if I wanted to, assuming they're still alive.
Any other oldies in the same boat? It feels weird that a 5:30 JV miler can find his results on milesplit and can watch a YouTube video of him running, but there's nothing comparable for guys like me who've run almost a minute faster in a previous generation.
If it's any consolation (I doubt it will be), I'm not optimistic that future generations will be much better off than you. Information online is very consolidated into walled-off gardens and only trending more and more that way. When a company dies, it usually takes the vast majority of its data with it, and even companies we take for granted as mainstays today can die within 40 years.
Concrete example - coolrunning.com. They were a huge archive of race results, many of them never published anywhere else, and then Active.com bought them and shut them down without even bothering to migrate the results to another system or provide a data archive that people could download. It's just gone. You can try to email them about a specific race on a specific date and they might respond, but that's about it. There's no reason to think the same couldn't happen to milesplit or any other similar site within the next 40 years. There's no accessing that Instagram video of the 5:30 JV miler, if Instagram shuts down.
I think the only solution would be to put your results in as many places as possible. Print out a hard copy, take a picture of them on your cell phone, save them on your computer, post them on social media, request the Wayback Machine to save a copy, and so on. That way, if some of them disappear, you'll still have something to rely on.
I read the title of the thread and thought of it a different way. I have gone to a few meets in the past year after going to basically none in the past 20 years and I now find it hard to believe I was as good/better than most of the people in these races back in my day. When I'm jogging my 8:00 minute miles now, seems awful hard to believe I could run 3:00/mi faster than that in races 20-25 years ago. Seems like a whole other lifetime.
I agree with this. We should all keep a running log. I did keep one for years and it is fun to double-check paces, results, mileage, etc. --- I still train with the same running buddies from college (I am 50 now), and we all have pretty thorough training logs that we can refer to. Now I use Garmin for daily runs and only write down special workouts and races.
I never really understood this practice. It's like saving the homework you got a B+ on in February of 9th grade. Who cares?
A running log is great. It is just nice to be able to look back at one's life now and then. I also have picture albums from all the different phases of my life. It is nice to smile and remember things from 30 or 40 years ago. People who only have photos on their phones will be sad in 30 years when none of that stuff is actually available. I can pull out photo albums from high school and college that are amazing. Such good times. And since I am still friends with those people, the pictures mean a lot to us.