What has been the WORST MISTAKE of YOUR LIFE?

Going to chiropractic school instead of getting a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology.

1) Opening any letsrun.com thread that doesn't have to do with running.

2) Opening almost any other letsrun.com thread.

Not going to strip bars more.

Jenny Mausbach.

Marriage

It may not be the biggest mistake but it is something many of you should avoid, this week.

Senior year of HS I did not start writing my college application essay the week school started.

When I got around to writing it, everyone else was writing theirs too and the teachers/councilors had little time to look mine over. I realized how bad it was for the level of school I was applying to and ended up applying only to schools that did not require an essay.

I didn't think it would matter because my first choice didn't require an essay. I ended up not getting into my favorite and going to my safety school. Overall, 30 years latter, I am sure I am in exactly the same place I would have been if I had written it but it certainly took more work to get here.

I originally visited a podiatrist because I was suffering from chronic shin splints. He prescribed a set of custom-molded orthotics, which is a common recommendation for podiatrists to make. The problem was that the particualr orthotics he prescribed were drastically excessive and overbuit, the equivalent of huge, thick glasses for an only slightly nearsighted patient. They were the kind of orthotics that would normally be prescribed to an elderly person with real mobility problems, not an athletic young male suffering from a minor running injury. Wearing them was like walking around with my feet encased in slabs on concrete.

I wore these orthotics everywhere, both walking and running for five months before I wised up and realized that I wasn't getting better and that I was being led around by an idiot. At some point I became frustrated, tossed the orthotics away and tried running without them. Immediately after I resumed running "normally", I began experiencing crushing pain in the joints of my feet that didn't go away after I stopped. In the following weeks, I learned that this pain represented permanent damage to the cartialge in those joints and that I had caused permanently osteoarthritis in my feet.

As it turns out, the excessive support that the orthtoics provided had "shielded" the joints of my feet from the normal stress of ambulation, and as a consequence, the cartialge in those joints had atrophied, or become weak and vulnerable. Just as muscles become weak if you don't use them, joint cartilage becomes weak and soft when not exposed to the stress of normal weightbearing, and in this state, it is vulnerable to damaging stress. When I attempted to resume running noramlly, without the orthotics, the imposition of stress that had once been easily tolerable caused permanent damage to the weakened cartilage.

And although I don't intend to act on it, I often fantasize about killing the pathetic excuse for a doctor who gave me those orthotics

really?????? wrote:

Going to chiropractic school instead of getting a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology.

Trust me when I tell you that you made the correct choice. Job prospects for PhD in Ex Phys are slim to none.

With your chiropractic degree, you can at least make some money. In the mean time, you can study exercise physiology, make yourself known to the local athlete population(s), and build up a clientele that allows you to actually work with athletes. Trust me again when I tell you that the likelihood of a PhD in Ex Phys working with athletes is slim to none.

sampling a ghost pepper

Maybe not mistake, but regret...

Not running a marathon after college. Ran D1 and hung up the shoes a few years out of school

I took my kids to the playground yesterday and while I waited for them, I did about a hundred pullups and dips on the various pieces of playground equipment. I literally cannot move and my body feels like I have been broken in two by a large man.

I am only 35 and I am this out of shape? WTF!? I need to hit the gym more. At least I can still do the exercises.

Coasting through HS and being a "running/slacker".

It doesn't seem to fit the personality type of a motivated runner, but I was a laaazy student. I'd do anything running related, but in the class I just did the very minimum.

lol, good job! I'm 35 and I'm quite sure I can't do 5 pullups, let alone 100!

In my first marathon I got caught up in the excitement and was running within a few seconds of my 10K PR pace for the first three miles. The next three miles were only slightly slower. The last twenty miles were progressive hell. Worst day of my life. Temps hit 80° by the time I finished.

That's pretty funny. I'm picturing you running out of the chute at your 10k pace. lol

FYI - It was a 95-pound female, but she does take her aerobics seriously.

An Father wrote:

I literally cannot move and my body feels like I have been broken in two by a large man.

I am only 35 and I am this out of shape? WTF!? I need to hit the gym more. At least I can still do the exercises.

not an xfitter wrote:

lol, good job! I'm 35 and I'm quite sure I can't do 5 pullups, let alone 100!

Well, I should be clear. I did about a hundred over the course of the hour that I was there. So, I would do 3 or 4 and then go do some dips and go down a slide with the kids... and then do some more, etc. I am not very xfit, either.

I moved to West Virgina in 1997. Am still here.