Darius gaiden wrote:
You must live in a fantasy world if you think you could survive off of 20k a year.
That's a bit more than my mother lives on so you could do it. You'd need to live someplace where the cost of living is pretty low and be very careful of what you spend, but you could do it.
To the original question, I have two responses. The first is that I would do it for that 20 grand or so or whatever the minimum amount I need to survive is.
On the other hand I'm not sure I'd do it for ANY amount because it means that running was my job and I think that eventually everyone begins to resent their job. I'd hate to feel like each run was "going to work." That's one reason I was never really tempted to work in a running shop. And my pre-race nerves have always been awful. If I had the added pressure of knowing that there'd be no money for rent this month if I didn't crack the top three or something I think it would be intolerable.
From that point of view, I'd prefer either to do something part time or with very set and limited full time hours and use any money made from running to supplement the other income or to have a fat shoe contract, maybe like Webb's original deal with Nike, where I could put away enough money during its length that I'd be more or less set for the rest of my days.