another issue altogether wrote:
I think some folks here are confusing passion for running and 'trying to be the best you can be' with outright selfishness.
Let me go ahead and say that in MOST cases this does not apply. I do not agree with the OP in that these guys are all wasting their time. Some are though, and at the expense of their loved ones in many cases.
I ran collegiately and know many former competitors and some teammates that run post collegiate. Off hand, I can think of 2 cases where the guy moved across the country away from his wife to 'persue a dream'. Problem is, we are talking about a couple of guys that are in the 13:45 5k range and don't make enough money to support themselves. One of their marriages is on the rocks bigtime because of this.
The reality of these situations is that these guys aren't running any faster than they were in college, and they aren't going to. There's nothing noble about what they are doing, in cases like these it's just plain selfish, same as if I left my wife to move across the country to play Nintendo.
I 100% agree with this. I have aspirations of running post collegiately but I don't plan on having a family till after my running career is over. If you scrape by running on your own then it's sacrifice but if you have a family that you aren't supporting because of your running then that's just selfish.