Got my arse rocked at the local turkey trot lastThursday... not sure I should even continue running.

Has been or possibly never was... wrote:

I'm 30 years old and haven't run seriously in about 10 years due to nagging injuries that always reemerge when I try to get back into it. Anyway, I decided to run the turkey trot this year just to see what I could do. I ran a total of 4 times in the three weeks leading up to this race. I thought I'd be able to throw down a 19:30 or even with so little training and scoop up a top 25 finish.

Wrong. I got my a$$ beat and ran a 20:59. A 9 year old beat me by over a minute and a half. The number of women that beat me were in the double digits. The final hill completely ate my lunch, and the female that I was trying to draft off left me in the dust. I felt like I was only getting passed the whole race - no passing of my own. The race left me feeling like a complete baby back b*tch. Four dudes absolutely walked me down in the final stretch in front of the crowd. I couldn't respond. The worst thing? The last one turned around just before the line, pulled out his goat, and said "gobble gobble M'fer". (just kidding). The actual worst part was that I had been talking up a semi-big game (half jokingly) to my wife and our friends that were in town, and they were there to witness my shame.

How do you old timers do it? I know I hadn't trained, but back in the day, I would've been able to run 19:30 or faster off essentially no training. I feel like I'm all washed up and that I'd never be able to run fast again, even if I could train.

Not giving a name wrote:

Has been or possibly never was... wrote:

I'm 30 years old and haven't run seriously in about 10 years due to nagging injuries that always reemerge when I try to get back into it. Anyway, I decided to run the turkey trot this year just to see what I could do. I ran a total of 4 times in the three weeks leading up to this race. I thought I'd be able to throw down a 19:30 or even with so little training and scoop up a top 25 finish.

Wrong. I got my a$$ beat and ran a 20:59. A 9 year old beat me by over a minute and a half. The number of women that beat me were in the double digits. The final hill completely ate my lunch, and the female that I was trying to draft off left me in the dust. I felt like I was only getting passed the whole race - no passing of my own. The race left me feeling like a complete baby back b*tch. Four dudes absolutely walked me down in the final stretch in front of the crowd. I couldn't respond. The worst thing? The last one turned around just before the line, pulled out his goat, and said "gobble gobble M'fer". (just kidding). The actual worst part was that I had been talking up a semi-big game (half jokingly) to my wife and our friends that were in town, and they were there to witness my shame.

How do you old timers do it? I know I hadn't trained, but back in the day, I would've been able to run 19:30 or faster off essentially no training. I feel like I'm all washed up and that I'd never be able to run fast again, even if I could train.

Why do you think you should have run fast with no training? I know a guy who ran 14:20ish for 5,000 and low 31 for 10,000 last spring as a D1 senior and then didn't run at all until October and decided to do a one mile all out and he couldn't break 5:30. He hasn't gained weight either.

How do old timers do it? They train.