The hours I spent running may have been better spent....
The hours I spent running may have been better spent....
lack of any meaningful relationships, platonic, romantic, sexual, or otherwise.
Promotes Strong introverted tendencies, withdrawal from society, obsessiveness. Plus, a causes a lot of pain with no guarantee for improvement.
On the plus side, running gives me a purpose, keeps me in shape, largely reduces anxiety and depression, and gives me a competitive outlet. Letsrun also keeps things interesting.
I can’t say whether running has changed me for the better, but it has changed me for good.
I was a journalist and author before I went back to school and became a lawyer. I imagine that the hours I put in running could have been spent carving out a freelance career on the side, something I am very much interested in doing. I also dabble in guitar, and could probably be a damn virtuoso by now.
Too depressing to contemplate
I missed out on seeing the Minutemen in 1985 because I had a cross country meet the next day. D. Boon died a couple of months later.
I would fall asleep during indie movies that my wife wanted to watch. Otherwise, running fit pretty seamlessly into my schedule and would take place while everyone else was sleeping.
A small fortune in surgeries and other medical devices, PT, etc.
I arguably got my job because I bonded with my interviewer over marathon running.
So it’s likely been a net positive for me
When I'm pissed off about my running I do tend to discount all the time, effort, and thought as a complete waste. In reality had I not been running (or into running XC/Track) I probably would have been doing something negative.
I was around people that were positive. My coaches and teammates, opposed to the guys in my neighborhood.
I was able to go to college and come out with very little debt.
Heck, even the idea of going to college is a result of running.
I'm fit at age 50. I see other guys my age and they look like hell.
In school it gave me an identity. I know there's a certain danger in wrapping yourself up too much in the I'm A Runner thing, but in middle and HS it at least gave me something where other kids were flailing around trying to find who they were.
I run when other people are watching the news. It takes about the same time. I become better acquainted with the good things in my town, rather than the bad things. I met preppies from the local school at Redwood Deli.
As an everyday lunchtime runner, I gave up a career of lunchtime socializing with colleagues. I'm sure it cost me in my career but I'd do it again. At 57 I still am fit, healthy, trim and look younger than those guys do now. Worth it.
Laying in a box turning to dust
Runnerconomist wrote:
The hours I spent running may have been better spent....
Unfortunately the hours I spent running and hobby jogging races cost my marriage....ie I’m divorced now...rolls the BIG eye.
Zev wrote:
lack of any meaningful relationships, platonic, romantic, sexual, or otherwise.
Because of running, I have all of that.
i could have been a whining dumb@ss like the rest of them, but instead, i chose a sport with little to no redeeming value, no inherent charm, no respect in the public eye, and made it my own , finding meaning in the small gains i could steal from it, and deep insights into what i'm really made of. So, all in all, i'm probably just another dumb@ss, but atleast i'm not whining (and im trying to do something).
I probably would have found the Great Pumpkin.
Linus wrote:
I probably would have found the Great Pumpkin.
Linus, dude, go for it already, will ya?!
I'm frankly sick of tripping over that security blanket you drag behind you every stinkin' race. And what's with the thumb suckin', anyway?