Are you proud of your PR's?

I'm proud of my self-improvement.

However, after seeing all the people with tons of talent who can run faster than me with less effort, I'm not really proud of my PRs.

I'm proud of how quickly I got some decent mid distance speed, after being a couch potato. I'm not proud of what I can run now, as it should be a lot faster.

I don't think they are great, but looking back as an injury prone 40+ runner now they seem impossible. Was I really that "fast"? But in some ways if someone were to ask me my PRs now, I don't want to tell them. Those were run buy a different guy over 10 years ago.

I think never being satisfied is a standard aspect of individual sport. No matter what you're doing, you can always go faster; and unless all the stars align for your races (perfect taper, peak timing, ideal conditions, competition, feeling fresh on the right day, perfect pacing), there's always room for improvement.

The mistake too many distance runners make is assuming they're entitled to the result they would likely hit on the ideal day based on this workout or that tuneup race. We run races because we don't know what will happen. Runners rarely have perfect days, but holding them in our heads as ideas of what we want to run is what makes most of us dissatisfied with our PRs.

No. My PRs suck. I look back at my running and honestly wonder why I wasted my time. Pathetic.

I'm serious, by the way.

Pride is one of the seven deadly sins, so no.

I've run for 30 years now, always with the goal of improving and winning. My PRs are not very good compared to some of the top guys on this board. But, I can look back and know that I ran them at (or very close to) my physical limits in each one. I don't think there is more than a second or two better I could have done in any of them. So I sleep well at night knowing that I poured out everything I had in me. And to my non-running friends, they are surprised at how "fast" my times are, even though none of them are anywhere near Olympic Trials standards.

I think Nick Symmonds was even quoted in a QOD a while back commenting not directly on PR's, but performances in the Olympics, and how even a silver or gold medal would warrant the internal question of "Could I have done better? Could I have shaved .1 seconds if I had done this?" It's this internal greed that makes you continually disappointed with your PR's.

If I run a PR, I'm usually happy with it for about 5 minutes after the race and automatically look forward to bettering it. There has been only one race over my past six years of running that after it I knew I had given a true 100%.

Greedy concept, but it is what inspires competition.

I hate my marathon pr! I had to walk 1/4 mile. I ran numerous marathons and despite 1st half splits of anywhere from 1:08 to intentionally jogging 1:15 hoping for a lot left, I always finished mid/late 2:20s.

I can't believe no one's said it yet: My PR's what?

Absolutely I'm proud. I worked hard to get where I got. All division I men, a ton of HS boys and quite a few national class women are/were better than me in all events. Who cares?

Most of them, yes. Not because they are fast (they aren't), but because they are probably the best that I was capable of doing.

In one sense I am proud of my PRs because, while not elite by any stretch of the imagination, I was faster than most people and won many races in my glory days on the track (high school).

But then fast forward to freshman year of college and I'm not winning anymore. I'm not really proud of those days. Not because of losing, but because I know I could have done so much more if I toughened up and set my mind to it. Instead, not being the alpha dog on the track bummed me out and I just started slacking off. I guess it was that typical mindset of, "I'd rather slack off and use that as an excuse for losing, rather than work hard and have no excuse if I still lose."

Pitiful I know. Life lesson learned.

I was really excited about my mile PR as a junior in high school. I slashed a lot off in one season, won some key races and got 2nd in the local championships.

Later, in college, I ran much faster. It was always nice for a day or so, then you want better.

My collegiate 1000 yard indoor mark from winter 1977 seems pretty good, but no one even knows what a 1000 yard run means anymore! I think of the work that went into it, how hard I ran the race, and my general mediocre 400 speed, and it's still very satisfying.

Crazy Cooter wrote:

No. My PRs suck. I look back at my running and honestly wonder why I wasted my time. Pathetic.

I'm serious, by the way.

Me too. I'm actually ashamed that I devoted so much time and energy to running and still ended up being so very mediocre. My PRs are a constant reminder of what a horrible, inadequate person I am.

If you're not proud of your PR's, then you didn't work hard enough to attain them.

mgm wrote:

If you're not proud of your PR's, then you didn't work hard enough to attain them.

Oh, I worked plenty hard. Regular 80+ mile weeks, a few times I cracked 100, intervals, tempos, long runs, watched my diet like a hawk, escewed a social life to get plenty of sleep...the results were terrible. I just wasn't good at running. And I'm certainly not proud of that fact.

If I break a world record I'd still want to improve my time.

mgm wrote:

If you're not proud of your PR's, then you didn't work hard enough to attain them.

Or you worked too hard.

I am proud of all my PRs but...

800m: 2:04.8 - I want to go under 2:00

1500m: 4:17.8 - I want sub 4:10

3000m: 9:28 - I can die happy with that one ;D

5000m: 16:21 - Got that during a 10km race... I want to go under 16:00

10000m - 34:02 - at least 3 seconds off

Half-Marathon - 1:17:25 - Sub 1:15 is the goal

Marathon: 2:54:45 - Sub 2:40

I am male, mid-thirties, running for over 15 years.

There's a lot of work to do to get some of those times, I know...

Come on guys, post your PRs when answering this thread. It would be great to see some real examples.