I know I will be bashed here for saying this but I am so tired of hearing about how running is EVERYTHING! Now granted we all make sacrifices large or small to be the best we can be, but the bottom line: running is not everything there is to life. And a lot of you guys need to go find one (a life that is). It just seems to me that most of the people on this board are so quick to bash someone for not being "fast" (when they themselves are not either, especially compared to the world) and making the sacrifices needed to be at the top of the sport. Well you know what, maybe they don?t want to make those sacrifices and that's ok. And maybe they do, and that's ok too.
Someone works at a shoe store and makes the "sacrifices" to run an 8:40 steeple. Are they any better then the guy who runs 8:50-9:00 but works full time as a teacher or in a office? One argument would go the other way, I mean after all, the dude works in a shoe store. Al Bundy, the high school hero would be proud!
There is no black and white here and it is good to take a gamble and push your body to the limit, and make the sacrifices needed, no regret. But stop bashing the guy who doesn?t, you sound like the whinny skinny virgin cross-country runners that stereotype our sport. Go get laid and get a new hobby.