Yeah... No, you didn't run 345 for 1500 in high school. Just a fair bit of talent that is. Making the Olympics would not have been enough for you? GTFO.
certified quitter wrote:
Given the state of athletics in the overall world of sport, there is really not a huge amount of incentive for a young person to stay in the sport long term unless they feel they have good shot of reaching the top or just simply love running that much. Why put up with all of the brutal hard work; early mornings; monitoring diet; no alcohol; skipping parties and social events for such little pay off? Add on top of this the fact that most of the public are convinced that runners are just as doped as cyclists and you have a dying sport at the competitive level.
I mean, the bottom line is that outside of running, Rupp is a nobody although he works just as hard as Mo at the game. Try asking the general public who Rupp is and you’ll be met with confused looks. Running at a very elite level is just not viewed as cool and will never compete with other sports especially team ones which are more social and thus will never attract a lot of cash or respect. The general public have no idea of the difference between a sub 5:00 and a sub 4:00 mile let alone the difference between a 1:45 800m runner and a 1:42 guy.
I woke up just after my 18th birthday when I was busting myself doing 400m repeats on a cold running track and suddenly found myself asking, ‘what is this all for?’. I made a decision there and then to quite based on the likelihood that I was never going to make it really big and just did not enjoy the sacrifices needed for further improvement. I had a fair bit of talent (sub 1:50 800m & sub 3:45 1500m HS runner) but just figured I’d go down the education road.
Do I have any regrets? None at all as I’ve lived a far more balanced life and enjoyed my 20s to the absolute max in so many ways – studied, partied, learned guitar, made lots of friends, travelled, got laid more times than I can even remember; started a fulfilling career; met my now wife. Oh and all the while still enjoying running as a means of keeping fit and to blow off steam. Yes, I’m now a hobby jogger as defined by LR but I’d rather be a ‘nobody’ hobby jogger than a ‘nobody’ who makes the semis in the Olympic Games and is forgotten about the next day or is dropped from the team following a period of injuries.
Everyone’s different but there are many others like me who just simply look at the broader picture and think, ‘ah fuc* this for a laugh, there’s way more to life!’