At which age did you finally admit to yourself that you would never become an Olympian?

kenny moore???

18

I am dreaming of pulling a Phoebe Wright and getting phenomenal in college and then shortly after become an Olympian

Floyd Pink wrote:

What do you mean "There is no Santa Claus"?

No, I mean is "Anybody Out There?....

Well said!

I still haven't admitted that to myself. I'm just a middle of the pack collegiate sophomore (8:25 3k as a sophomore) but still won't let go.

On a slightly different note - one of my huge goals is to somehow attain a USA jersey/USA gear/represent the USA in a competition. Whether it be the Mountain Running Championships or the Olympic Games, so be it.

20. Junior year in college (1979). Improved a LOT in college and was continuing to improve. Watched a very talented frosh teammate get injured, not run a step for 6 weeks, jog around for a week, then win an indoor 2 mile race, kicking past a Div I All-American on the last lap to win in 8:47. I knew then that no matter how much or how long I trained, I would never beat a guy like that (my best 2 mile indoors ever was 9:07).

I didn't give up on making the Olympic Trials though, and I kept training after college and entered a fall marathon. Went through 1/2 marathon in 1:10:05, picked it up, started picking off people, and was still on pace to go sub 2:20 and qualify when I got near the 22 mile mark. There was a long gradual uphill and a steep downhill afterwards. Nearing the bottom of the downhill, my right calf cramped and seized up. Very painful. Had to stop, lie down and stretch it out. The last 4 miles was a death march, running a bit, having it cramp, stretching it, walking, repeat. Ran 2:37. Decided to focus on career after that, got my MBA, pretty good job, and never second-guessed my decision to cut back training.

It might have been better it happened this way than if I had been a little bit better, chased a futile dream, and lost another 5 years plus or minus. Still run almost daily, having run 25-35 mile weeks for last 20 years or more (I'm 51). Best sport in the world. Only a few can be great though. I wasn't one of them.

At 32 I still think I have a shot. I just need to drop my 5K time about 6 minutes. I think I have a better shot in the 1500 though, I only need to take off about 1:30 there.

I started running about a year and a half a go at age 35, so the thought never crossed my mind. When playing other sports as a kid, I was very mediocre when it came to the 40 yard dash that we'd do for football, so I always assumed that meant I had no running potential.

I never had a point where I thought I could be an Olympian.

The other kids were always better at all sports including running.

But I got better and better and after college qualified for and ran in the Olympic Trials.

The 'A' standard of 3:37.00 didn't seem too out of reach after going from 3:52 to 3:42 in one year.

After a brief glimmer of hope it finally went away at almost 26 when I didn't go under 3:42 and went on with my life.

At that point it was more important to me to grow up than chase that long shot until I was 30.

I was only 9 years old. I found my birth certificate and saw that, contrary to what my parents had always told me, I was NOT born on Mt. Olympus.

Age 33, after pursuing it from the age of 13:

http://www.bunnhill.com/bobhodge/Races/races88.htm

nonstoprunner wrote:

On a slightly different note - one of my huge goals is to somehow attain a USA jersey/USA gear/represent the USA in a competition. Whether it be the Mountain Running Championships or the Olympic Games, so be it.

This is also one of my goals. Luckily I am Jewish and can represent the United States of America at the Maccabi World Games, similar to the Olympics but only for Jewish athletes. These occur every 4yrs and in 2009 the winning 5k time was a 14:45, so...yeah...I'm actually pretty convinced that in 2013 (I'll be a college junior) I have a very, very good shot of winning in a USA jersey (current PR is 9:20 for 2Mile).

Who wants to be an Olympian now? It used to sort of be about World Peace and coming together. Now it's about the Globalist Elite's agenda to conform to their New World Order.

Biometric scanners, facial recognition, full body scans, etc. etc. Condoms and Free food are not all that await you at the Olympic Village in London! You will be lucky to take a crap without 4 cameras recording it; heaven forbid you grunt or make a face from the extertion, the Gestapo will be coming!

Better question at what age did you start to train like an Olympian?

OK you guys/gals for anyone who took up the sport after the age of 12 who ACTUALLY thought you would be an Olympian - really? I thought not.

The Olympic village is a basically a giant party where you can have sex with some of the finest athletes on the planet.

Somethings messed up in your genetic code if the thought of sexing a fine human being doesn't tickle your pickle.

Dorando wrote:

OK you guys/gals for anyone who took up the sport after the age of 12 who ACTUALLY thought you would be an Olympian - really? I thought not.

Ryan Hall, Diemer, Pre, none of them "took up the sport" until high school.

ah crap! I screwed up this realization by making the team when I was 24. :( sucks to have never have had to make that realization.

And I never even got the 5 ring tatoo either. It just seemed so 'show off ish ' once you had been there and come home...