People who've hung up your spikes (or flats), what was your last race like? What was your last good race like?

My last race was trash. It was too hard trying to live a normal life with 9 to 5 job plus attempt to be a track athlete after college. Has to be one or another. Gave up racing and stuck to living life and enjoying my 20s.

Last race: was beaten by someone that should not have been able to beat me and I accepted it. Wasnt devastated or willing to enter a new training session to redeem myself. Another thing I noticed toward the end was feeling like an outsider amid the claps and cheers. Although I could feel the energy it felt monotonous. This part is hard to describe other than being spiritually removed from the sporting realm.

Last good race: Set a personal best and felt like I had more in the tank. In theory I think that is how it should feel.

Last race was dog poop. Jumped into a 5k at a point where the number of peers I had that week exceeded my mileage for the prior couple of weeks.

Last good race was Chicago Marathon 3 months before my last race. Had a great outcome (age group win, $ masters finish, PR), but knew even then that I was done, at least for the foreseeable future.

I had ground through 4 marathons and aborted a 5th due to injury in 4 years at that point, and at just a few months she of 47, my body was beat to heck. I had actually known that it would be my last meaningful race for the foreseeable future a couple of months before race day.

*number of beers, not peers

At age 32/33 series of 2:00flat 800's in all comers meets. Argh. Lol.

The next year, the gift of "calve heart attack." Shtty, unlucky genetics. Oh well, I enjoyed it all a ton while it lasted...

Enjoy your running kids, protect your running health. Stay off the pavement as much as you can.

You never fully hang up the spikes. Once a year The Siren’s Gobble always beckons us from the couch to the start of the ‘Trot...

Kvothe wrote:

I'm nowhere near quitting myself, barring getting hit by a car or savaged by a loose dog, but I'm just curious as to why people decide thats it. I don't think I'll quit even when I can't hit another pr as most of my family line is fat and I'd probably end up pretty chubby, but I envy the people who can not run a step and drop their appetite to maintain weight. If you want, you can explain a little about your decision to "retire" from the sport, or just tell how your last race went. Those who stopped seriously competing and just run for fitness are welcome to tell about their last good race too. As an aside, is anyone planning to hang them up after the trials yesterday? Or maybe after outdoor this year?

Bruh, I got hit by a car in November and I'm back at it. Just make that you don't get hit too hard..

I've got 2 last races.

1st was in college: conference finals 1500 meters. Ran average, maybe a little below and finished 5th. Should've been top 3 IMO. Team got cut that summer and we lost all funding due to gender equity BS. I was too far along to transfer and the school was tops academically. Did not race again competitively for over 20 years.

Other last race was 20+ years later: 8K as a 40 something master in CC. Ran out of my head and finished T10. Just too much going on in life - work, kids, etc. - to keep racing.

You'll know when it's time to hang them up. Plus, comebacks are kinda cool.

My two mile on a track at Sonoma State all comers on my 44th birthday was a half minute faster than my high school time . Flats then, spikes in h.s.

Over a dozen years ago ... I was working a ton of hours, didn't have much time for running, but was itching to get back on the track as it had been about 10 years since college. Managed to run a 2:03 800m, off of 10 miles a week. Which tied my old high school PR, so while 2:03 ain't exactly bragging material, it was fun and I felt pretty good about it.

I wanted to see how much I could improve the next year if I ran 20 mi/week, but my Achilles was injured and I got another job working even more hours so I never got back to it.

Now, as a three-time cancer survivor, I'd like to run again. We'll see ...

was a mid distance runner (400/800 mostly with PRs of 50.4 and 1:56.8) through HS and college and recently gave up that distance to focus on things I enjoy more. For me I still run but am not doing hard track intervals but also adding in cycling and swimming to the mix right now. In future i probably will also climb and ski (both downhill and xc) more. I love physical activities but also like the variety. My last race was a pretty pitiful 400 last spring after all of last spring I was coming back from repeated calf strains that put me out of commission. The last good race I had was a 1:56.9 the spring before where I was able to come back from a short hiatus from running when I went to college and return to my peak fitness.

I was more focused on school in college and plan on doing tris, maybe some open water swim races, or duathalons. I like the variety where I don't need to run everyday but still be doing something I enjoy

I learned pretty swiftly after college that I enjoyed the social aspect of the team more than the training. While I was willing to do whatever coach gave me, once I was isolated from my peers due to moving for work my motivation to do anything more than 50mi/week in easy mileage plummeted. I considered joining a club but the only one near me meets in parks ~90 minutes from my place. I ended pursuing friendships in other hobbies and running when I got home from work early. I'm hoping one day I get a job closer to a vibrant club but between the state of most of the clubs and my current fitness, it seems dicey.

Quit due to chronic achilles issues. Last "real" race was a 10k that went decent...I ran 30:20, felt really good and thought I could go faster in the right race. Definitely felt like I was in the best shape of my life.

Things started going downhill with a calf injury during a regular old tempo run that later morphed into a nagging pain in my achilles. I took a few days off thinking it was just a minor little niggle, and decided it wasn't going to stop me from towing the line at a local 10k I had planned on doing with a decent prize purse. I won the race but my calf and achilles were hurting bad the entire time.

And that was it. Went to the doctor. Did months of PT, attempted several comebacks, but the injury never went away. 4 years later and it's still rare for me to have a pain-free run, - even if I'm just doing a few miles at 8:00 pace I'll still feel a slight ache. But I've made my peace with it.

I found that no matter what the distance I'd run 5:17 miles.

That got boring a few years out of college, and that was that.

Man, this could have been posted by me too! Almost exactly same story. My achilles blew out before a marathon and like a young fool I ran anyway. Tore it to bits. I still made little comebacks over the next ten years but now, 20 years later, I am just going out and running for fun and to clear my head. I miss it so much. But, I coach and I get a thrill out of that too. Helping pass on the love for running to the next generation.

My last race was a swan song - I ran a 1500 on limited training after 15 months injured. All things considered, I didn't do too bad (I pr'd at the distance, but it wasn't good and was my first attempt at it since high school three years prior). All things considered I wasn't at all disappointed - I fought for over a year in and out of Doctors getting injections and various evaluations and procedures in hopes that I'd be able to one day be able to train and run again. I kept myself fit doing aqua running, stationary biking and elliptical. In the last couple months, I was able to do some interval work on the track, but was limited to 20mi./week running. Just getting on the track in a uniform was a huge victory for me.

My last competitive race was awesome - broke a major barrier in the 5k (my actual distance)! Also got a shout-out in our team's post meet huddle for the first time in my "career". Overall, I got lucky with my last races.

That would be like a 2:18:30 marathon...probably faster with Cheater Fly technology. You were a fast MFer.

Won my last race, marathon in a okay time on a warm day. I won a big check that made it feel like a big deal and was very content with it. I had put in a really good buildup but was running mostly at 9 or 10 at night finishing after midnight because of coaching. Fresh out of college I had woke up at 3am to fit my mileage in but couldn't do that anymore. I wanted to hit the trials standard but wasn't close enough that I could justify quitting coaching since that was my priority. As I became more invested in coaching I knew that I couldn't sustain that lifestyle and wasn't willing to train without being fully into it.

Kids or parents still ask me when my next race is and I explain to them that I retired which they laugh at cause I'm still youngish but no regrets.

The end sucks. Had about 12 years (soph HS thru age 27) until injuries struck. Like most I always had injuries here and there but at 27 they just didn’t really go away. It became a revolving door of doctors appointments, stopping training etc. just wasn’t fun anymore to train and not have a real chance of PRing. It was also evident that the actual running wasn’t as fluid and easy as it used to be. Like someone else said, you know when it’s time. I’m not even sure what my last race was, had many over the last few years but they all sucked compared to being in my prime.

Like someone else the final injury that did me in was a calf heart attack 5 years ago. Never went away and tried everything. Still can’t really run more than 2 days in a row for 3-4 miles or it gets too strained. Like I said, the end blows but at least I made some great friends and got some respectable PRs.