I’ve found the ranting by Mike from San Diego quite amusing, but he highlights an important fact about thousands of narcissistic and whiny wannabes. That this sloth of a man went as far as to blame fast people for being talented is just plain absurd. It’s not rocket science.. the harder and more often you train the fitter you get and as a result can perform better and train harder in the future. For everyone flashing in and out of our sport I have news for you – you can get out there and call your 3 runs per week at snail pace training and pat yourself on the back for finishing a jog/run marathon.. but you’re always gonna know you didn’t really train and perform in the end. You see, Mike and your ilk, the difference between you and ‘real runners’ is that you don’t have a drop of motivation to even scratch the surface when it comes to putting out effort. ‘Real runners’ – even many +20min 5kers, don’t like to leave many stones unturned. It’s not about showing up and breaking a little sweat because your are obese and have endless excess water in your body… it’s about getting out there are putting yourself through a constant grind.. and to go hard enough and often enough that you start to doubt whether you want to keep pushing because it hurts and because it’s painful.. and overcoming those insecurities and getting to a new level.
I have a family, a full time job and still often volunteer to help new runners out. Last year I had a group of 20 at work sign up for the NY marathon and all asked me to help them. After 1 month of easy base training, only 6 were still showing. No matter how much I tried to accommodate the others’ issues, they found excuses not to show up and run. After another month of harder training 2 of the remaining 6 had dropped out, one with an injury and the other due to poor excuses. The 4 that continued completely transformed their bodies and were running faster than their old 5k pace for the full marathon. The one guy with bad excuses came back with 3 weeks to go. I turned him back, but he persisted and manned up. I put him through a bit of torture and he realized he lost the fitness he had worked so hard for previously. He still ran the marathon, but he was not allowed to walk.. I thought he was going to crack but he fought until the end and finished without walking. His time was a disaster and he was so angry with himself that he continued training on his own to prove to himself that he could perform.. this spring he destroyed his time at Paris. Can you relate to anything I’m saying here?
If I lived in San Diego I would challenge you to spend a couple of months letting me train you. Based on your posts I already know the outcome – you wouldn’t last a week. So all you bellyachers out there, do yourself a favor, stop wasting your time trying to convince us you are trying hard and move on to arts and crafts.