How to justify competitive running at the amateur/hobbyjogger level?

*meant to say top 350 nationally

why do you need to justify it to anyone. If someone bothers you about it, just ignore them. Are you trying to decide if its worth it? I kept running after college and have never been happier, as I continue to pr. The years of thrilling madness are behind me but I enjoy running just as much as I ever did. You have to decide for yourself if running is right for you. The only thing I can tell you is its all or nothing; if you take half measures, run every other day, cut out doubles, cut way down on mileage, you're going to be more miserable than if you picked up a new activity altogether. Don't let friends, family, significant others stop you if you want to keep running; if they can't understand why you do it, why you have to train how you train, its not something you can share with them.

Dude, we all just want to better ourselves day to day and running is a great avenue for that. Who gives a f*ck where that fits in with others' times and fitness.

spot on

obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated

"just running" is boring to me. chasing times & wins is fun! duh!

also, 0/10 b/c people don't have to "justify" what they do for fun. i don't ask my hipster friends why they get off on drinking all the time & spending their weekends getting high at concerts, or my sports-crazy friends why they spend saturday's getting drunk/tailgating & Sunday's planted in front of the TV watching RedZone & checking their fantasy team. i know they're doing what they enjoy.

I think questions like this are hilarious. Getting faster is fun and addictive, even if you're not ever going to be the fastest in the country or the world. Most of us love it, so we continue to do it. If you don't enjoy it, don't do it. This isn't complicated.

It's fun. Running for nothing but fitness doesn't seem like it would be fun.

What would you do instead? Make $$$? Work for the poor? Wath sports at the telly?

Competing in a sport is fun. Exercising for no reason is boring. There is no difference in competitive running and any other sport. Why to people in a softball ream or bowling league want to win?

NO MORE FREE RANDY wrote:

"just running" is boring to me. chasing times & wins is fun! duh!

also, 0/10 b/c people don't have to "justify" what they do for fun. i don't ask my hipster friends why they get off on drinking all the time & spending their weekends getting high at concerts, or my sports-crazy friends why they spend saturday's getting drunk/tailgating & Sunday's planted in front of the TV watching RedZone & checking their fantasy team. i know they're doing what they enjoy.

Saturday's what?

Sunday's what?

You guys missed my point. I'm trying to justify it to myself, not because I care what others think.

Also, most of you are assuming (maybe bc of the age demographic) that it's still possible to chase PR's. Of course it's fun when you're getting faster! But when age and reaching your physical limit kicks in, what would be the point then? I think winning your age group is lame but that's me.

What's the alternative? Broaden your base of activities within an active lifestyle. Things that right now you're precluded from doing because it would be counterproductive to training.

It sounds like you might benefit from taking some time off. If after your break you decide you want to run competitively again, consider going after a new distance or one of your softer PRs.

Isn't that what age-grading is for? So you can compare performances as you age to your old ones and understand how they relate? You can still compete, anyways, and most of us really like competing and racing. I never find it disappointing that I have to shoot for a win in the women's race rather than the overall race, so I don't see why trying to win the master's race would be any different.

If you want to take part in some other activities do it. Why not? You can still run and do other stuff. Also, if you decide you don't like your new activities, you can stop doing them and start running again.

13:50 could be construed as hobby jogging; good but not good enough. This is 2013 get a clue...

Thing is, I liked chasing PR's because getting faster meant getting closer to the front and eventually winning some races. That was fun. Being in the race itself.So I can't get into age-grade or time for its own sake. And the masters division is just a race within a race.

I just want to hear from people who have transitioned from competitive running to casual "jogging" and the occassional race here or there. O is it all or nothing for people with my competitive mindset.

There are people who competitively shove things up their butt. Look it up. There are contests where people try to shove the biggest objects up their butt. You may ask why a person would want to do such a thing competitively.

You're missing our point too. Why stop doing something you enjoy just because you aren't as good at it as you once were? I'm not precluded from doing anything I want to do because of my running. I'd just rather run.

You never met Johnny Kelley, did you?