Cannot see myself doing anything besides running as an occupation

When I was 4 I wanted to be a firefighter, I couldn't think of doing anything besides it as an occupation

The bad news: even if you end up running 8:50 and 4:05 before you graduate high school, you will most likely not have a successful pro running career. Anything could happen in the time between now and your college graduation. You could become a national-class runner, but other outcomes are far more likely.

The good news: you are very young, and a lot will change between now and the time when you have to decide what to do after college. If you end up as a 13:35 5k guy and want to give semi-pro running a shot, that’s great. But it’s more likely that you will have other options and interests that can lead to a career, and that’s great, too.

All you need to do is run a 3:42 1500m, 8:00 3000m, or a 13:50 5000m and you're a pro.

http://zapfitness.com/applying-athletes/

notveganboi wrote:

When I was 4 I wanted to be a firefighter, I couldn't think of doing anything besides it as an occupation

You had/have a better chance of being a firefighter than the OP has of making a living from running.

Keep open mind. You are way too young to chart that far ahead.

Run with passion, but keep those grades up and have a decent social life. Don't be afraid to mix up the sports to keep your mind fresh. It's that simple.

Being a "pro" runner doesn't mean what you think it means. Let's say you grow into National elite clean. Let's say you are fast enough to run in "pro" fields. No one is going to pay you enough you to be filler in a pro field and still train year-round.

What to do? On top I posted, "have a decent social life."

What sponsors want is for their athletes to be "people persons" not scrawny, self-important athletes clearly heartbroken because you didn't hit your goal time. Be your friendliest self before, during, and after races the more you can practice the social part, the better.

What has happened lately is there are "sponsored" athletes whose only notable accomplishment is having a huge social media audience. That's what a future in running looks like. Worst case scenario, You might make enough to "live the dream" after college a bit. Best case, the money is decent and you can say that you actually make a living running.

I wanted to be a professional runner starting when I was in elementary school (though I knew all along it wasn't possible). Now, in my early 30s, I have a job that I'm not passionate about but that I definitely don't hate. I still love, and am passionate about, running, and my main focus in life is to be as good a runner as I can be (I know many will find this pathetic)...but I have time for other things too. Running (and recovery) doesn't take up a ton of time...you'll have to fill the hours with something.

Look up as many pro runners as you can think of and research how long they were able to live with running as their only job and what they did after that (no one except Bernard Lagat is going to be a professional runner for more than 20 years). Find a job that (a) you think you could stand doing 40 hours a week, and (b) is in a field you think you could get into after (best case scenario) not having practiced or studied it for a decade.

Start building an online social media presence to increase your desirability. Reebok or under armour or hoka one one is going to be more likely to hire someone with 50,000 YouTube vlog subscribers or 100k Instagram followers than just some random unknown guy who runs a 14:00 5k. Also, consider running ultras.

Qwerto wrote:

The bad news: even if you end up running 8:50 and 4:05 before you graduate high school, you will most likely not have a successful pro running career. Anything could happen in the time between now and your college graduation. You could become a national-class runner, but other outcomes are far more likely.

The good news: you are very young, and a lot will change between now and the time when you have to decide what to do after college. If you end up as a 13:35 5k guy and want to give semi-pro running a shot, that’s great. But it’s more likely that you will have other options and interests that can lead to a career, and that’s great, too.

If you're willing to live on like 15K and do lots of road races, and maybe combine it with assistant coaching, you don't have to be nearly that good.

Look at literally Bekele. He is the world's greatest runner. Evan he will say that you need to do other stuff to. You need to support others. He runs(witty pun) many hotels in businesses in Ethiophia. He does well from that. You should think about hotels next time you go for a run, because you can't only think of running. I see myself owing a chunk of letsrun. That is my ultimate gole

Keep crushing the Kahoot bro! Running pro didn't work out for me but I'm living large on the Kahoot Tour!

What you need to do is marrying a rich woman/man who can support your passions. That way you don't have to work for a living and might at most be asked to do daily chores like cooking. Plenty of free time that way.

Avoid taking her down to the river. You'll end up with a union card and a wedding coat for your 19th birthday.

Bruce Frederick wrote:

Avoid taking her down to the river. You'll end up with a union card and a wedding coat for your 19th birthday.

If this occurs, should he expect any wedding day smiles or walks down the aisle? Flowers? A wedding dress?

Keep in mind that even if you do make it as a professional runner, you'll still need to find something else to do with yourself after your career is over. If you ran professionally until the age of 35, that would be a long career. Are you planning on just sitting on the couch for the next 50 years after that? Might as well start developing some other interests now.

Sadly no, all if it could be gone and this whole dream of being a starving runner could disappear into an amazing rock ballad... but at least he'd have that.

I too wanted to go pro when I was a Junior in high school. Running completely consumed my mind and the only thing I wanted to do was run. Now I am a fifth year senior and after many setbacks and bad injuries going pro is so unrealistic it's laughable. I still have a passion for running, but you honestly just don't know what's going to happen. Luckily for me I majored in finance and I really enjoy it. I've done several internships and I have job offers lined up even before this next recruiting cycle. If I had gone with my original plan of majoring in Kinesiology so I could better understand the human body to make me a better runner, my prospects right now would be pretty dim.

My point is don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you want to be a pro, work really hard and run with passion, but at the same time diversify yourself a bit. The future is very uncertain and if you're all in on professional running and it doesn't workout it'll set you back a bit.

Best of luck to you, I hope it works out!

develop some interests wrote:

Keep in mind that even if you do make it as a professional runner, you'll still need to find something else to do with yourself after your career is over. If you ran professionally until the age of 35, that would be a long career. Are you planning on just sitting on the couch for the next 50 years after that? Might as well start developing some other interests now.

True. Even Alan Webb, the most inspiring runner of all time, finished up his degree in Econ and started a new business when he hung up his spikes. You need to have knowledge and experience in other areas.

If you are an aspiring pro runner who is not a phenom the #1 thing you need to understand is that your pro career will not be made by what you do in high school and college. You're going to be semi-pro all along the way. What's going to separate you from the rest is what you do post-college. So many guys quit after college because they didn't make it prime time. Except no worthwhile pro runs their PR in college. You should keep improving after college if you keep at it. Most of those guys who were around you in high school and college will have quit by the time they are age 24 and all of a sudden from age 25-30 you'll be running PRs with barely anyone able to keep up with you. There is money to be made there if you love the sport, but if you don't love it then sitting behind a desk for $50-100k will begin to appeal to you.