Does a professional American distance runner make enough money in their career to retire off?

I make around 3700 for xc. 3800 for indoor. 5500 for outdoor.

outdoor is by far the easiest of the 3.

How many people in any field make enough money to comfortably retire in their mid 30s or younger? No, most runners don't make enough money to retire at the end of their athletic career, but almost no one in any career makes that kind of money. I played high school football with two kids who ended up in the NFL. Both of them went on to second careers after they were done with the sport.

Coaching is definitely one option for former pro runners, but runners do have skills and interests outside of running. Most also received a free college education. It really shouldn't be that hard to find a perfectly pleasant way to make money after finishing a running career.

One of the many problems with Americans is the amount of money they think they need to spend. You all think you need a 3000 square foot house, three new cars, a massive RV, a flatbed trailer with two CanAms, a boat, family vacations.

If you think that is the standard of living, you'll be forced to work a job you hate til the day you die just to keep up with it all. Then you'll complain how week the economy is and how much the government wants to tax you, simply because there's never going to be enough money to go around for that lifestyle to be normal.

I'm going off grid. Solar panels, rain collection, a hand pump well, outhouse, and old clunker truck, a big garden, a pile of books etc. Average yearly expenses of a couple thousand dollars. Then I don't have to deal with all the entitled asssholes tailgating me everywhere I go because they have to zoom off to work.

So with that in mind, yeah they make plenty to retire on if they don't get their expenses as dramatically out of whack as the average American.

This question is laughable. Of course they don’t!

Only those who are among the best in the world for a number of years can make enough money to retire on. Our sport is not like the NFL and NBA which are multi-billion dollar entertainment industries. Most runners have to go to work and will not become rich unless they go into fields in which the money pours in and they can collect their share. I taught public school for 40 years in a state in which salaries are higher than most as the cost of living is high. As a teacher I also coached cross country, winter track, and spring track. I also taught summer school for my last 15 years. With Social Security and my state pension I take home almost as much as I earned just before retirement. I will never get rich but my tastes are not those of an affluent person.

I got a friend who is 54. Wants to retire health issues. Was making 85 grand most of his career. Has $700,000 in his IRA. Maybe 400,000 in free cash. He has no type of pension though. Got two parents both sick, one in nursing home. Two kids in college with no scholarships. His medical insurance is thru the roof....gonna get worse on retirement. He figured maybe he lives to 83 he takes 2300 a month out IRA..gets a check 2000. Can't get social security till 67...if its still there. He can't make it, Wife works odd jobs. Everything goes to heck as you get older. Maybe in 13 years he gets 1450 for SS, heck, still ain't enough. He needs a lot more income. He is spending his cash like mad. Guess will all be living in tiny houses, off the grid.

Here is my list of American men that are probably over $100k, and $100k for several years is not enough to retire. I'm only looking at 1500 and up, contracts are smaller than people think, and they rely on prize money to get much money. There are way more opportunities to get prize money on the roads, so more of the $100k+ guys are 10k and up. There may be a few others that would be close or have broken 6 figures once or twice in the past but had a down year this past year. The highest two on this list I think would be Rupp and Centro and they could retire well after running and probably Lagat as well since his career was so long. A couple dozen guys would be in the $40k-$80k range depending on the year, like Johnny Gregorek, Droddy, Stinson, Kebenei, Ferlic, Martin Hehir, and over a dozen more. But most big names out of college that are running at USATF championships are making $5k-$15k, so they certainly have to work a regular job.

$100k+ Guys:

Centro

Craig Engels

Lagat

Lomong

Hillary Bor

Jager

Hassan Mead (maybe not last year, but definitely a couple years ago)

Chelimo

True (maybe)

Kipchirchir

Korir

Rupp

Fauble (marathon pays big)

Ward (marathon pays big)

If he is such a award winning coach, why didn't his son go there?

bartholomew_maxwell wrote:

A good runner who also served in the military has the best deal if they get their 20 years in.

For all the criticisim the military receives, it still has the best retirement option by far. A friend of mine will be retirning from the USMC with just over 20 years, at a rank of E-9, and will be able to collect his retirement immediately. That's as sweet as it gets. You're an early 40's person and don't have to work a real job for the rest of your life. At E-9 he falls in that camp. If you retire at an E-6 or E-7 it may be harder to stretch it. Depending on the state you retire in. Ones with no state income tax are your best bet.

My friends in the military tell me this is the exception, not the rule. Most get 'force shaped' out of the military in their 30s and dont get anywhere near to 20 [if thats their goal], they have to be a top performer and promoted on time to make this mark. The vast majority do not.

A far better example is a state/municipality with a contract that has a similar policy. Not so much downsizing/lay-offs/'force shaping' there.

It's even crazy to be having this discussion. Running is a poor man's sport, period. Very rarely comes a star like Usain Bolt who can make big bucks and live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Most of the other greats can get paid well for a handful of years and then they are cut off. You often see pros competing for coaching gigs which tells you everything. And no, they are not doing that for fun, they need cash flow. Now if you are from an underdeveloped country I'm sure you can live very well after retiring. In the US the distance runners that stick around tend to have family support so maybe they can also live well after retirement having been gifted a house by mom and dad. You have to truly love what you do and do it only for the love of the sport to be a distance runner in this country. Making big bucks is a pipe dream... I estimate maybe 5-10 have made a comfortable living in the US over the last 10-15 years.

So this generation has the best approach. Their call is "Dream big, Live big and Become legend. To do this they jump off mountains in wing suits, climb buildings and travel the world...on someone else's dime, of course. Yep then the years go by. I should have thought of this advanced generation's approach.

after year wrote:

a few can. Very few. How many doctors in your town make a solid 6 figures year after year?

You can't be serious.

Unless they're working part time, I'd have to say "all doctors"

My town is full of engineers and scientists, and from wikipedia ...

"The median income for a household in the town is $133,532, and the median income for a family is $156,388. Males had a median income of $109,371 versus $48,113 for females"

I'd imagine the number of very very very low.

Look at Shalane, she just retired and she's all over 36 years old. Very few runners have that kind of longevity, and certainly not her level of accomplishment, and she's still going to have to do SOMETHING for the next 60 years.

If you are "livin the dream" and scraping by you are actually starting off behind your peers when it comes to retirement goals. If you can make a go of it post college until age 28-30 you are a good 5-8 years behind other people your age. While they were working and gaining experience moving up the corporate latter, etc you were essentially doing the same thing you've been doing since middle school- getting ready for the next track meet.

Bcmlegend wrote:

So this generation has the best approach. Their call is "Dream big, Live big and Become legend. To do this they jump off mountains in wing suits, climb buildings and travel the world...on someone else's dime, of course. Yep then the years go by. I should have thought of this advanced generation's approach.

They say to live your life like you are going to get hit by a bus the next day, which is solid advice....... unless that bus never comes. Then you're 40 years old, still renting, no reliable car, no retirement, no savings.

The more salient point is that most pros seem like a bunch of nimrods who could handle any money let alone worry about retirement.

Most marry a person with a stable job

The point which you and a previous poster missed is that athletics is not a viable pathway to early retirement. Scores of ordinary professionals out earn all but the most elite professional athletes. I am lucky enough to know what an educated professional makes. I live in an area where I come into contact with these athletes (not runners though). Many wither personally and financially as their career quickly fades. They spend away the fortune and may not have left their 20's and 30's. That's a long time to wander adrift. And their earning potential plummets without real education and career experience.

But I also know many former professional athletes who have gone on in finance, medicine, law and other fields. Beyond the needs to provide for their family, it is an example to their children. And more importantly, good honest work feeds the soul

Webb's contract when he left Michigan was over $1mil. Don't know over how many years.

sit and kick wrote:

My friends in the military tell me this is the exception, not the rule. Most get 'force shaped' out of the military in their 30s and dont get anywhere near to 20 [if thats their goal], they have to be a top performer and promoted on time to make this mark. The vast majority do not.

A far better example is a state/municipality with a contract that has a similar policy. Not so much downsizing/lay-offs/'force shaping' there.

My friend wasn't exactly a book type but I guess he exhibited military bearing and definitely physical fitness standards that probably catapulted him up there. I know it's not the norm. E-9 before 40 is far from the norm.

Some of his accomplishments: High school: He was only a 4:30 miler, nothing exceptional.

Parris Island: He won the IronMan recruit for his platoon. That goes to the recruit with the highest PT test scores.

So he made a name for himself as early as recruit training. I think that in the USMC if you're a top physical fitness performer it makes you a very high candidate for advancement. It's the most physically demanding of the services.

Your assumptions for pay scale are probably fairly accurate. Obviously there are no CC or track coaches making remotely close to what football coaches are making, with the highest earners at the division 1 level making around $7-9 million per year. I am from Wisconsin, and in 2017 a Madison newspaper published the salaries of all UW athletics coaches. Mick Byrne made just over $153,000 in 2017. Of course, Mick coaches TF and XC for both men and women. That was near to the bottom of the totem pole across all sports at UW. When considering the level of responsibility (3 seasons per year for both men's and women's teams) that Mick has, his compensation relative to responsibility is at the bottom in the athletic department. By comparison, the rowing coaches for men and women (yes, there is a separate coach for both the men's team and women's team) both made a shade over $100,000/year.

The article is linked below:

https://madison.com/wsj/sports/college/badgers-sports-wisconsin-coaching-salaries-and-contracts/article_0ee25325-318c-52ee-8ee5-aec494841e65.html