26. Thinking of putting my life on hold to take one last shot at running in 2015.

never had my shot wrote:

29:30 guy wrote:

30:00? Really?

Go get your PhD, son.

So, if you could read, you would have seen that I was in 30:00 10k shape last year without training seriously at all, meaning that if I trained seriously I could run significantly faster.

Don't worry about these guys that say, "Yeah , take your shot if you think you can run 29:15 ... or 28:45 ... or 13:45 ... or 2:12 ... or 2:22 ... or whatever."

How much you get out of this is not decided by how fast you get or how fast these guys think you should get, or how fast they wish they had gotten. Think about this, the Brothers Johnson did not have a career when they started this website. I still have no idea how Robert got the distance coach job at Cornell, maybe nobody else wanted it or could live on that salary? Anyway, they still don't as far as I can tell. One of them took his shot and was able to run 28:06 a couple times and have several memorable, significant races.

This is all that is needed for this to be successful idea: IF YOU GET SOMETHING OUT OF IT and it is worth more to you than what you may be bypassing.

AS many people have mentioned, you can still work or go to school while training properly, you can still get married, you can still have a life.

This doesn't have to be something that ripples through your life for the next 20 yrs. You will know whether it is working for you/ worth it to you within 6-12 months.

If you are feeling strong physically NOW, give it a shot NOW, you will not feel this way forever.

Do it. Seems obvious to me. Do what you love and stop doing what you hate.

Must be difficult going through life so upset by what other people do. Just because you were never able to make the OT standard doesn't mean other people don't want to try.

Tyrone. wrote:

Why do people on here think that qualifying to run in the Olympic trials is worth putting your entire life on hold? It's one friggin race. Say you train your butt off for the next 5 years and run 2:18 to qualify. Then what? You still aren't an actual Olympian, nor will you ever be. You have absolutely no chance of coming in the top 3.

It's the Olympic TRIALS people, not the actual Olympics!

in the same boat. currently 26 starting a PhD program, nearly identical time in HS, took a large chunk of time off after college, recently ran about 2% slower than trials qualifying B standards

previously as a researcher i was stressed, working too much, and definitely hating it. i was able to redirect who i was working with, redefine my project, change my attitude/discipline and set up a great environment to work and train. started to really love both. i've seen PhD programs that offer a lot of choice, but most people are afraid to change anything. asking 40+ hrs/week - too much. 50+ - WAY too much. 60+? absurd. you should search for something that works, first within your program, but possibly externally. PhDs can have good vacation, decent pay, flexible hours which might not always be possible in the 9-5

be wary of aiming for results in a short time frame. i had some arbitrary times i wanted to hit within a year or so. i was happy with my improvement, but narrowly missing those times led to undeserved disappointment.

i've now committed to 4-6 years of long-term development. why?

-these are the peak years age-wise to be running. i know the physical feeling of rapid improvement off little effort. it's good

-i want to experience competition at the sub-elite, national and eventually the elite level. can't say this for much else, and it's fairly accessible for a runner

-this elite experience, training and its pursuit will make me relative expert. in the future i can pass this on as a coach, father, etc

i am seeking excellence, not times, and this has made things altogether more enjoyable and possibly made me faster

finally: the peter coe books have helped instill training structure and my outlook