Attitudes expressed by the OP are the exact reason the sport of running is treated the way it is. Would you tell an NFL player he needs to add an additional 20-30 hours of work per week since all he's really doing during the day leading up to a game is going to a short practice and watching some film? No, not at all. If you truly are a professional athlete in any sport it must be your only focus, 24 hours a day. You get up and run your morning run, you lift, meet with a therapist, you refuel and nap, you do your second run and then you do some more drills and recovery. if they had a job it would likely involve working in a running store (standing on your feet all day) or sitting at a desk, neither of which are really helpful for their real job. would you say justin verlander or clayton kershaw should seek supplemental employment during those 4 off days between starts? obviously not - so why should professional athletes in our sport be considered lazy or selfish if they want to put all of their energy and focus into their sport? for christ sake we have an olympic silver medalist in our country (the first in over 40 years) essentially unemployed - imagine the 2nd best qb in the nfl just getting cut after a hold out. yet he is supposed to fight the good fight for team usa wearing a kit emblazoned with the logo of the corporation that refused to give him a fair contract?
i will somewhat agree with the op in regards to the sub elite level runners. i dont begrudge them their desire to continue on in the sport. if you are a top 20 athlete in the USA in your event you really are one of the best in the world, as outside of Kenya/Ethiopia and the Carribean Islands that would likely get you to the Olympics. people who are in the top 20 at what they do in this country do tend to be highly compensated. where i do tend to see a valid point is in guys with teams like Team USA Minnesota or NY/NJ TC. these are not really guys who will ever contend for US titles and Olympic berths. in the grand scheme of life, it doesnt really matter whether you ran 13:25 or 13:35 and that is something i think is lost on a lot of people. while i personally would never forgo all the other things in life to pursue a time of that caliber (and maybe thats why im just a 2:22 guy and not a 2:18 guy) i understand why others would having given a very large portion of my life to the sport.
they are kind of like minor league baseball players. my own mother has said she thinks anyone who has a chance to play minor league baseball should do it, but then at the same time has criticized professional track and field athletes as being selfish. this is the attitude that really bothers me, but i think it is held by many people and is one of the main reasons track and field is not held in high regard. somehow professional runners are not seen as professionals in the same regard as all other professional sports. whether its because mr sub elite OP considers himself superior because he holds down a job and runs 110 mpw or because suzie jogger considers herself just as much a runner as rupp because she finished a 4 hour marathon i just really dont know.