Accounting- Can I Still Run 100 miles A Week?

Of course it is, depending on the pace of your easy runs that is only about 12 hours or so of running per week or less than 2 hours per day.

Sure, just don't go into public accounting.

TAA wrote:

Sure, just don't go into public accounting.

+1. If you're fine working at a desk doing the same thing from 8-5 every day with limited upward mobility it shouldn't be an issue.

Dear god don’t base your college major on whether you can run an extra 20 miles per week to get into a race you have no chance of winning.

You can hold any full-time job and still squeeze in 100 mpw if you really want to but don’t make a life-long decision based on a few years of running.

Cataclysmist wrote:

Dear god don’t base your college major on whether you can run an extra 20 miles per week to get into a race you have no chance of winning.

You can hold any full-time job and still squeeze in 100 mpw if you really want to but don’t make a life-long decision based on a few years of running.

This type of thinking is why America sucks at the marathon. Remember OP YOLO, and don't listen to the naysayers.

Sand Dunes wrote:

Cataclysmist wrote:

Dear god don’t base your college major on whether you can run an extra 20 miles per week to get into a race you have no chance of winning.

You can hold any full-time job and still squeeze in 100 mpw if you really want to but don’t make a life-long decision based on a few years of running.

This type of thinking is why America sucks at the marathon. Remember OP YOLO, and don't listen to the naysayers.

Making life altering family and career decisions based on a desire to hobby jog a lot is NUTS! And yes, chasing an OT qualifer is ultimately just fast hobby jogging.

Say he achieves his goal. He then gets throat stomped at the trials, so he has a race number that he can someday show to his kids that he didn't have. It's crazy.

Life > running.

Sand Dunes wrote:

Cataclysmist wrote:

Dear god don’t base your college major on whether you can run an extra 20 miles per week to get into a race you have no chance of winning.

You can hold any full-time job and still squeeze in 100 mpw if you really want to but don’t make a life-long decision based on a few years of running.

This type of thinking is why America sucks at the marathon. Remember OP YOLO, and don't listen to the naysayers.

The OP's type of thinking is why America has so many 30 year old adolescents.

I understand it seems like a selfish goal especially given that there’s virtually no chance of me making the Olympic Team but I really want to see how far I can go in this sport. I don’t particularly enjoy Accounting but I am exceptional with numbers and breezed through a very difficult Accounting course. If you guys have any better ideas on majors or jobs that may be more fun and not overly time consuming, I’d love to hear them. At this point I’m just doing this because of the money and job security. Not sure what other options I have....

Lost College Student wrote:

I understand it seems like a selfish goal especially given that there’s virtually no chance of me making the Olympic Team but I really want to see how far I can go in this sport. I don’t particularly enjoy Accounting but I am exceptional with numbers and breezed through a very difficult Accounting course. If you guys have any better ideas on majors or jobs that may be more fun and not overly time consuming, I’d love to hear them. At this point I’m just doing this because of the money and job security. Not sure what other options I have....

Try teaching. Bill Rodgers and others in the 70s were teachers. How hard is it really?

The other option I was considering is getting my degree in Accounting and then getting a PhD in Finance. That would give me 7 more years until I have to enter into the real world and would give me that time frame to compete in the 2024 Trials. I understand that may be a bit difficult academically but I have always done extremely well with little effort in academics so I’m sure it can be done.

Lost College Student wrote:

I understand it seems like a selfish goal especially given that there’s virtually no chance of me making the Olympic Team but I really want to see how far I can go in this sport. I don’t particularly enjoy Accounting but I am exceptional with numbers and breezed through a very difficult Accounting course. If you guys have any better ideas on majors or jobs that may be more fun and not overly time consuming, I’d love to hear them. At this point I’m just doing this because of the money and job security. Not sure what other options I have....

Choose a field you have some aptitude for and don't actively hate. That's about the best most people can hope for in a career. Sure, we'd all love to have fun, low stress jobs that leave lots of time for our hobbies. The reality is that those kind of jobs rarely pay well or have good career paths.

Your serious running pursuit is only going to last a handful of years. Your career is going to last decades longer than that. It is unwise to sacrifice the latter for the former.

You're setting yourself up to be middle aged, stuck in a dead-end job, and lonely, all for the sake of getting to tell folks that you were once an OT qualifer. That is an unwise trade.

This^ I guarantee the person you are today and your perspective on life will change once you get out into the working world. What if you got hit by a bus tomorrow and could never run again? Would you still have other interests? You don't want your whole life defined by running. It can be a big part of it but like everything it's rather transitory.

Choose a major and a career that interests and challenges you. Work your running around that. Run commute to and from work. 8-10 am and 4-6 PM with a weekend long run and there ya go. running is far more enjoyable when you aren't depending on it for your self worth of to pay the bills.

10-4 = a max of 6 hours per day. How are you working 40-50 hrs per week again? Also, where are these jobs where you don't have to show up until 10?

I think he was saying to run 8-10 miles in the morning and 4-6 miles in the evening. That's certainly doable around a full time job. It will keep you very busy, but it's doable.

Have you thought about looking for a particular kind of accounting you might enjoy more than what you've seen so far? I'm also good with numbers and was bored by my one accounting class - until we got to problems dealing with fraud. "How could this set of income statement & balance sheet be covering up fraud?" that sort of thing. If I hadn't already had a major, I would've been interested in more forensic accounting. (Or maybe a life of accounting fraud, I guess...)

Lost College Student wrote:

I’m a Business major and was planning on switching my major from Supply Chain to Accounting. With that said, I want to continue high level running as I have a chance at qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Trials Marathon based on my current pbs (and I also want to continue high level running after that). I’m fine with having 0 social life and no family- with that being said, is it physically possible to run 100 miles a week as an Accountant and still be able to get a good amount( 7-8 hours) a night of sleep? Should I continue in Supply Chain? Try something else? What are the options here?

Thanks

Yes, you can.

Also, don't listen to people who say you are wasting your time. Life is what you want to make it... not what some poster on a running site says it is. Do it if you want. You sure won't be able to when you are old. And guess what, you can do it and also be successful beyond running.. it's hardly one or the other.

However, word to the wise. If you don't like accounting don't do it or only do it for a short time... it's hardly fun but does provide a pretty good education as to how businesses function.

Good luck!!

I basically did this except as an engineer. At some point you're gonna have to decide which is more important to you: your running or your career. If you're relatively smart and hard working in your career then you'll have opportunities that require staying later and missing the evening run or the next morning's run. It was great the first 5 years out of school for me but then I got into management and the 100mpw eventually became 40 mpw. I'd say go for it as long as possible but life will eventually catch up.

I am not discouraging him from pursuing his dream. I am discouraging him from altering the entire course of his life by staying single and choosing his major and career field so he can seriously hobby run unimpeded for a few years. THAT is unwise.

I don’t have any idea what you should choose for a major, but finding a career track where you have the work-life balance to sustainably run 100 miles a week can be worth it when you get to a point in life where you’re no longer chasing an OTQ. Your 30-year-old self may not care so much about running fast, but he may care about having the time for a family, a social life, getting a degree while working, and running enough to stay fit.