I wasted 10 years of my life on running. Now there is no meaning to my life.

Do a jigsaw puzzle.

Seriously, they are fun, force you to focus on a task, help pass some time, and finishing it gives you a sense of accomplishment. Might not be a long-term solution, but it will help give you something to look forward to for a few days.

wasted wrote:

Has anyone else ever felt depression or despair after working hard for something and failing? How did you get over it? I really feel like there is no meaning to my life.

It's not whether you succeed or fail. It's about the process. Look back at the process and how hard you worked . This will translate into a purpose and a meaning of your life which can be applied to anything.

Success is coming your way.

Be well!

wasted wrote:

Has anyone else ever felt depression or despair after working hard for something and failing? How did you get over it? I really feel like there is no meaning to my life.

sounds like you only value yourself as a runner. i was worried about this when I quit running after college but my life got a lot better.

there's a lot of people on this board that can't give up running because they feel the same. good you reached out to the boards.

it's hard at first but you'll be fine.....

i'm guessing you'll get back into running once you calm down and reflect. Again, it'll be fine.

you reassess your goals with running and it's way more fun.

How old are you?

I'm guessing a junior or senior in HS. If so, then certainly no you didn't. You won't realize how much you got out of it until much later in life. Have a crappy season? So what. Everyone does at some point and bodies mature at different speeds. I've seen HS seniors run 4:55 then run 4:18 as a soph in college. Happen all the time? Nope, but it happens. Why not you? If you're in HS don't despair. A fresh view and team and routine in college can make the world of difference. Plus you'll have great teammates hopefully and hang out together.

If you're graduating college and feel this way then maybe you got a discount on school, or maybe you had some great years with some great people. Or maybe you'll be like Ben Blankenship, take some time off, years later smash a local 5K and get back into it.

Older and work for a living? Then maybe you did lol, just kidding.

I was going to say 0/10 for trolling at first, but I was wrong. Judging by the seriousness of the post I'll say my piece.

Give yourself time to get over it, and then find a new hobby. A lot of people define themselves by their job or their mile times or 5k times or whatever. But there will always be someone faster, stronger or better than you. I had this same loss of identity in 2006 after I graduated college--and all my friends outearned me (Don't ever do journalism!).

To me, you're defined by how you treat others!

So here I sit at 58 feeling the opposite. I WISH I had truly given my all in running for 10 years. Grad School, family etc could have waited. I can now only wonder what might have been but will never know because I didn't think I had the time to find out. In reality, I didn't have the courage to take the risk. I ended up being sub elite on sporadic training. I was always told I had talent/potential for more. But potential is only a word.

Mark Twain said something like: "I don't regret the things I did, it's the things I didn't do". So you gave running your all. You didn't reach your goals apparently. But, now you can be proud of yourself for pursuing a passion in a way that I can't.

Of course I don't sit depressed about all this. I've had some good life experiences. But if I could do it all over, I would take that risk to see just how good of a runner I could be.

I gave up too early. 30 years later and I still regret it almost every day. It absolutely kills me being that I'm pretty sure of what I may have accomplished. Trying and not making it is called chasing your dream.

Love the wisdom of Yong-Sung Leal. OP, you may have erred in spending 10-years of your life single-mindedly seeking personal glory in a pursuit that provides very little return relative the investment required to succeed on the world stage.

I recommend spending some time thinking about the great memories, and then moving on to what you'll soon see as many more important things in life. And try no to repeat the mistake of becoming obsessed with self-glorification.

Ask Obama

take it from someone who gave up earlier wrote:

I gave up too early. 30 years later and I still regret it almost every day. It absolutely kills me being that I'm pretty sure of what I may have accomplished. Trying and not making it is called chasing your dream.

You were right to give up. Wasn’t going to happen for you.

How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?... Yeah... Coach woulda put me in fourth quarter, we would've been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind.

What many runners don't self actualize is that we spend way too much time on a running hobby. There is obsessive component to it. Do you think people who play in the softball league waste this much of time and effort? They play a game on Sunday and maybe a practice once a month. Running a 3 hour marathon is an equivalent of playing a weekend softball. You're not really good. Maybe better than okay but that's about it. Nobody was going to recruit you to run track at college.

My red line is if you're in college and fast enough to become div I All American, go for it if it doesn't interfere w/ school work and future careers. Other than that and maybe making the marathon trials after college, you wasted a lot of time if you have nothing else to show for after turning 30. You just wasted most productive years of life chasing basically nothing.

I know of someone that ran pretty well at some mid-major school. Able to PR and all each year since he started running (started running around 11 i think?). He had a pretty bad senior year (5th year too) and didn't accomplish any of the goals he wanted. Definitely a fall from grace where he ran 90 seconds slower in the 5k and didn't make it past his conference meet. Watched his teammates compete at Regionals from the Flotrack live stream. Of course he felt like he failed. And without a team and coach post-college he felt just uncertain of how life would turn out.

He eventually got a job and after some time off (he pretty much quit running completely) and about a year later after graduating I saw him competing in half marathons. Pretty soon he would PR by a lot and eventually moved up to the marathon and had some pretty admirable moments. Life caught up quickly (career, family needs, etc.) and he slowed down and found a balance of some sort where can compete every once in a while. The biggest thing I noticed though was just how relaxed he was about it.

OP, I know it's difficult to handle failure from all the time and effort and especially as younger person. It's your passion and you're probably still heavily invested. With what it's worth, try to think about the things you enjoy and matter to you. If you want, include running in a way where you can still do what you love to do. If it's injury, learn and study about it as much as you can. If you've just finished a big chapter in your life, best of luck in your journey mate.

I can't believe we got to page 3 without someone saying..." Hi Jamin!"

Well, the thing is: once a runner always a runner !

If you never really liked running, yes that f....' sucks ! As you really wasted 10years of your life !

However if you love running and looking back of that 10years feels like a good time, despite the end results, yes you are a runner.

There are so many possibilities actually, associated with running. You can get a coach diploma or can open a running shop, maybe volunteer in a local track club, to start out.

I don't know how old you are, but to say, Marco Olmo won UTMB at the age of 58 and 59, two years in a row. He started running at 52 ant took a few years till became a pro runner.

So if you were only 25 or even 30, you can still be a pro runner, especially in the US, land of opportunity ! You might just need to specialise in something else than your previous discipline ! Running stays running ! Mountain running, uphill running, vertical kilometer, ultra road, ultra trail, snow shoe running, arctic running, obstacle course. Running is running. Max King won the warrior dash world champs two years in a row. 30grands both times !

Just open your mind and maybe a reorientation will do something good for you !

Of course, being a 100m or 200m runner is different, as you cannot really transfer your skills to endurance, the possibilities are open more towards power sports. Sports commentary maybe ?

Get some goals straight away mate ! You can do it !

There is no meaning to life. When you figure that out when you aren't depressed you wil thenceforth be happy.

Running, even at the most competitive levels, takes what....2 hours a day at most. You have 22 other hours in the day to be productive in other things. We by far have the easiest sport to train for. Try being a gymnast.

Alan

Runningart2004 wrote:

We by far have the easiest sport to train for. Try being a gymnast.

Alan

Or a road cyclist. Biking for hours in sh!tty weather is tough and dangerous. Running in the same weather?... what's the problem?

wasted wrote:

Has anyone else ever felt depression or despair after working hard for something and failing? How did you get over it? I really feel like there is no meaning to my life.

Well, is it you?