At What Point Did You Give Up On Your Dream Of Being A Great Runner?

When the world-renowned orthopedist Stanley James admitted to me that he really had no idea how to prevent medial tibial stress fractures.

When I graduated highschool with a mile PR of 5:02.

Still holding on to the dream of being an okay runner, though

When I only improved from 4:50 to 4:45 mile from sophomore to junior year of high school after training pretty hard year round

beadccc wrote:

When I only improved from 4:50 to 4:45 mile from sophomore to junior year of high school after training pretty hard year round

Feels man...

But on the bright side your 5 and 10k times probably went down a lot.

I still haven't and I am 26. Well … "great" is a stretch, but I still haven't given up on getting pretty good. My most impressive high school PR was my 800m (2:00.9), but I did also manage 16:25 for 5k XC. My goal for 2014 is to break 2:30 for the marathon. I hope to threaten 5:30 pace (2:24) someday.

I guess my answer would be senior year of college when I'd had a year of healthy, consistent 100-120 mile weeks under my belt. I didn't pr in xc and only got small pr's in track. The thing is though, I still haven't. I'm 26, but I've broken all my prs from college, by a small amount and still run 120+ miles a week. The only real change is I squeeze my runs in before and after work instead of running at optimal times of the day. Its fun.

I was in college in the late 80's. When I started to see guy regularly go under 13 I realized they were in a different universe than me.

I realized that we were barely even doing the same sport.

When I ran my butt off to run a 4:50 mile when I was 16, then I looked up the world record and saw it was more than a minute faster. At that point, I knew running at the college level wasn't going to happen, so I focused on piling up varsity letters and studied harder.

photofinish wrote:

When I ran my butt off to run a 4:50 mile when I was 16, then I looked up the world record and saw it was more than a minute faster. At that point, I knew running at the college level wasn't going to happen, so I focused on piling up varsity letters and studied harder.

If someone wants to run in college there is always an opportunity for them to join a team. Not D1, but there are plenty of small schools that would welcome a 4:50 miler.

Within minutes of birth.

Shattered Dreams wrote:

I'm going through a rough time right now. I can never get in consistent boughts of healthy training. Running goes really well and then I get sick (all too often) or injured. I'm at the point where I'm asking myself if it's worth putting in all this time and effort while missing out on social events (ie. parties, going out late with friends, seeing girls, etc) for the not so great results I've had. I'm curious as to what was the breaking point for most letsruners? When did you give up on your dreams of being a great runner?

Not choosing the right parents....thick bone structure, asthma, long torso/short legs

Never. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and get your a$$ out the door or if you're injured get your a$$ on the bike or in the pool. Running and running well doesn't have to be such a big sacrifice. To be a good runner you honestly only need 2hrs a day and eat healthy and don't smoke or drink (too much).

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, get pis$ed off and go accomplish what ever goals you want to.

Try Hard Go Far wrote:

To be a good runner you honestly only need 2hrs a day and eat healthy and don't smoke or drink (too much).

There is a huge difference between being a good runner and being a great runner. Not everyone has the potential to be a world class runner.

what is the definition of a great runner, in the context of this thread. My definition of a good runner is someone who can hold is own and finish middle of the pack at the D1 level.

Shattered Dreams wrote:

I'm going through a rough time right now. I can never get in consistent boughts of healthy training. Running goes really well and then I get sick (all too often) or injured. I'm at the point where I'm asking myself if it's worth putting in all this time and effort while missing out on social events (ie. parties, going out late with friends, seeing girls, etc) for the not so great results I've had. I'm curious as to what was the breaking point for most letsruners? When did you give up on your dreams of being a great runner?

Look, man, I can't explain it to you, but when you at the end of your rope, when you at the end of your strength, I'm telling you, I can't explain it, I'm telling you, doors start opening up. You just got to keep pushing. You just got to keep fighting. And if it is something you want, if this is really your dream and you is really trying to go after this, you will find a way to keep going.

But you is the one that is going to have to find your "Why"

Try Hard Go Far wrote:

what is the definition of a great runner, in the context of this thread. My definition of a good runner is someone who can hold is own and finish middle of the pack at the D1 level.

That is a very high standard, probably at the 0.3% level.

A mid-pack DI runner is about 31:00/10K and sub 14:50 5K.

When I ran sub-20 as an 8th grader, thought I was hots***, and then went to running camp with my HS CC team before my freshman season, and there was this Adidas pro runner who spoke who ran in the 13s. I realized I would never be that good. I did not get much faster in highschool and PRed at 18:23. I have not improved since then (still run roughly 18:30).

When I ran sub 15 for 5k and got smoked. I also kept getting injured.

Graduated high school with 4:10, 8:58, 24:31 road 8K prs. Went to a top notch college program, realized I would never be an Olympian. Still earned 6 AA's and was a member of 10 nation championship teams. At the highest level, there is really, really good, and then there is great. I did what I could for my team, ran for a few years after college, then transitioned into life as a husband, father, and coach.