At what age is it pathetic to make running the primary focus of your life?

I know you excluded professional runners, but based on the QoTD from today, the age might depend on whether or not you have an ivy league education.

You basically said the same thing as me, and are incapable of doing so without sounding full of yourself, with the exception that I actually believe it is okay for some pre-college individuals to have running as their primary focus and you don't.

This is clearly just a troll thread, but I will weigh in only because a fair number of you seem concerned enough about the answer to argue with the OP, so here it goes:

Life it totally meaningless. You can either allow this fact to paralyze and depress you, or you can choose to feel liberated. If life has no inherent meaning, then you can assign it whatever meaning you want. You wish to make running that meaning? Boom - done.

You're welcome.

Your responses to the OP were good and your reply to the person trying to disagree with you by stating priorities other than running was on the money too. I don't agree that I'm incapable of responding without sounding full of myself. I did have fun with that role today for some reason but I did apologize for it at the end of the post. Would a truly pompous person do that?

real mans wrote:

You basically said the same thing as me, and are incapable of doing so without sounding full of yourself, with the exception that I actually believe it is okay for some pre-college individuals to have running as their primary focus and you don't.

Fair enough.

Zooming to the zenith wrote:

I don't think the true elites are pathetic, although I do t worship them like I used to. The ones that make me cringe are the random 29:00 5k guys who screw over their coworkers by leaving at 5:00:00 PM to get in their oh so precious workout!

Isn't 5:00:00 PM usually the end of the workday? How are they screwing co-workers by going for a run after work?

college soph here. i don't think it's ever 'pathetic' to make running your #1 priority as long as it isn't severely impeding your ability to succeed in school, your job, or socially. priorities evolve over time though. if i had to list out the evolution of my life focus/priorities, here's how they'd go...

middle school

1. making friends/having fun with friends

2. setting school records in track

3. getting good grades

high school underclassman

1. getting good grades

2. running- training, PR'ing etc

3. developing social circle and having fun

high school upperclassman

1. running- making state meet, chasing records etc

2. getting into college (apps, recruiting, getting decent enough grades)

3. partying, chasing girls, having fun with my bros

college underclassman

1. running- make impact on team, keep PRing, long term goal=all american

2. making friends and getting drunk/laid as much as possible

3. do well in school and develop internship experience to prepare for the real world

if anyone thinks that me making running my #1 priority is pathetic, even though i'll probably never be a national champion or olympian or whatever, they can f**k off. i love it, i'm good enough at it to do it in college, and it balances out the rest of my life. OP saying that 'no one cares anymore' should be the deciding factor is stupid- your happiness shouldn't be dependent on others opinions.

Looking back to this time 5 years from now you might feel different. Your running PRs, the number of times your got laid or drunk, might not be as important as your grad school, assistantship paying for grad school, and your career. You might wish your third priority had been your first.

I know you don't want to hear that and you are ticked off at me for writing it. But, its good advice.

Anything later than when you can be one of the best in the country for your age group up until age 35. If you are not getting a full ride or going pro right out of HS, your life should not revolve around it anytime after 18.

At what age will the OP realize that he's a horrible -- just awful -- excuse for a human being?

+∞

Conundrum wrote:

Looking back to this time 5 years from now you might feel different. Your running PRs, the number of times your got laid or drunk, might not be as important as your grad school, assistantship paying for grad school, and your career. You might wish your third priority had been your first.

I know you don't want to hear that and you are ticked off at me for writing it. But, its good advice.

Why would you think that?

You can only run in college once. You have your entire life to apply to grad school and build a career.

There is nothing wrong with running or having fun. But schooling and your career shouldn't be number 3 on your priority list behind running and getting drunk and laid. That order of priorities in 5 years you might regret. You guys know that right?

reader of the forums wrote:

Conundrum wrote:

Looking back to this time 5 years from now you might feel different. Your running PRs, the number of times your got laid or drunk, might not be as important as your grad school, assistantship paying for grad school, and your career. You might wish your third priority had been your first.

I know you don't want to hear that and you are ticked off at me for writing it. But, its good advice.

Why would you think that?

You can only run in college once. You have your entire life to apply to grad school and build a career.

How_Fast? wrote:

This is clearly just a troll thread, but I will weigh in only because a fair number of you seem concerned enough about the answer to argue with the OP, so here it goes:

Life it totally meaningless. You can either allow this fact to paralyze and depress you, or you can choose to feel liberated. If life has no inherent meaning, then you can assign it whatever meaning you want. You wish to make running that meaning? Boom - done.

You're welcome.

I like this except the part where I actually feel empathy and might feel badly if I un-prioritized my family. Not as free as I'd like.

doo doo wrote:

How_Fast? wrote:

This is clearly just a troll thread, but I will weigh in only because a fair number of you seem concerned enough about the answer to argue with the OP, so here it goes:

Life it totally meaningless. You can either allow this fact to paralyze and depress you, or you can choose to feel liberated. If life has no inherent meaning, then you can assign it whatever meaning you want. You wish to make running that meaning? Boom - done.

You're welcome.

I like this except the part where I actually feel empathy and might feel badly if I un-prioritized my family. Not as free as I'd like.

Actually that doesn't run contrary to How_Fast's ideas. He would say you are choosing to assign that meaning (your family) to life and that's fine to do.

I don't agree with his thoughts, but it was an interesting and well written post. I believe that there is meaning to life and one of our life's missions is the search to understand it.

Conundrum wrote:

Looking back to this time 5 years from now you might feel different. Your running PRs, the number of times your got laid or drunk, might not be as important as your grad school, assistantship paying for grad school, and your career. You might wish your third priority had been your first.

I know you don't want to hear that and you are ticked off at me for writing it. But, its good advice.

5 years out from college and looking back....nope, don't feel any different.

John Clendon wrote:

Conundrum wrote:

Looking back to this time 5 years from now you might feel different. Your running PRs, the number of times your got laid or drunk, might not be as important as your grad school, assistantship paying for grad school, and your career. You might wish your third priority had been your first.

I know you don't want to hear that and you are ticked off at me for writing it. But, its good advice.

5 years out from college and looking back....nope, don't feel any different.

With some it might take ten years.

Conundrum wrote:

With some it might take ten years.

You could play this game all day...

"With some it might take 13 years past their death"

Solid argument.

This keeps going and going and going. Like I said some people go through life never finding what there looking for.