Serious question: do you consider yourself superior to others because you run?

I guarantee most men on this board 25 and under think of themselves superior compared to the general race of humans.

But we are superior if we can run faster and are fitter. That is what the word means. If the nonrunner gets a 36 on the ACT and the runner gets a 20, the nonrunner is superior. So they are both superior in different things.

When I was younger (mid 20s to mid 30s) I did.

Once I hit 40 I realized that having an ego and viewing yourself as superior to another person is a sign of insecurity, not superiority.

I consider myself superior in physical health yes. As a whole, depends on other factors too like intelligence, happiness, wealth, etc.

I do not think I'm superior, but I do occasionally find myself thinking about people that don't run and think how boring it would be. I'm the only one in my entire family that runs. The rest of them are pretty immobile, like most of the population. They go from their car, to work, to home, and maybe to some other inside structure every now and then. They don't get out and see the world. As runners we see so much of the world.... Go to a new city? Go for a morning run? You just saw in great detail miles and miles of roads that a small percentage of people see.

I think as a runner you feel more free and capable.

Cuckoldistan wrote:

I consider myself superior in physical health yes. As a whole, depends on other factors too like intelligence, happiness, wealth, etc.

I'm kind of in this camp. And the only time I feel vaguely superior to others is when they spend a lot of time complaining about how they could do X, but then they just don't do it. Figure out what you really want to do and do it. But don't complain about not doing it and then go watch hours of TV or whatever.

^miles and miles of roads or paths or trails*

I do not feel superior. I pity people who do not partake in vigorous physical activity. Here I am, 2 months away from age 60 and I am running down the street just like I did at age 6 (slower, but it is the same activity). Many others could do this if they tried and improve their quality of life.

When I was younger I definitely did. Partly because running is hard and at the time running was like religion to me

I don't run high miles anymore, mainly focus on general fitness and muscle strength, have gained a little layer of fat, so I guess I am not as good as all you superior know-it-alls here. But I was a pretty serious runner back in "the day". We had a solid group of runners, probably about a dozen of us remain(ed) close friends. I am talking sub 2:20 marathoners, national class competitive runners. One of them died of sudden heart attack before he was 30. Another developed a heart condition and cannot run at all on doctor's orders. A third developed heart disease and suffered a mild heart attack at age 60, albeit he still runs.

Running big miles and being super lean is not the definition of healthy, and is not protective of health. If you think it is, then you are fooling yourself. If you think you are "superior" to anyone in any way other than you can run faster than them, then you are an idiot.

"Superior" how? Takes qualification as to criteria.

A senior runner I much admired who ran marathons in the 2:30s and a mile in the low 4: 30s fell over dead on a training run one Day. morning in northern California at age 47. He looked magnificent but not so superior to the rest of us plodders that day.

I meant marathon in 2:30s.

I don't feel superior to people because I run. I feel superior to them because I spend all my time on LetsRun

Reality Checker wrote:

Running big miles and being super lean is not the definition of healthy, and is not protective of health. If you think it is, then you are fooling yourself. If you think you are "superior" to anyone in any way other than you can run faster than them, then you are an idiot.

This. When I ran I thought I was the definition of "fit." I had endurance, fast twitch muscles, slow twitch muscles, could train in heat and in the cold, I AM THE BEST! Then I looked in the mirror two years ago and saw a super lean guy with no fat on him, and also not an ounce of muscle. And I wasn't running sub 2:20 marathons. And I wasn't running sub 14 5Ks. So what the heck was I doing? I was skinny as heck and was outperforming people at the local mom and pop 5k. Since then I quit running, though I still jog occasionally. I weight train, I do HIIT, and I look better and feel better. I can knock out tons of pulls ups and can bench more than my weight easily, and I'm much happier and now look down on runners as just "skinny guys who can jog faster and further" and do nothing else.

If person A is disciplined and hard working and person B is fat, lazy and undisciplined, do I think that person A is superior to person B?

I think we all know the answer to that.

Is everything the same in life? Is an "A" letter grade in school superior to an "F"? Is success the same as failure?

I don't think "superior" equates to superior essential worth as a human being, but it's something.

Since when looking scrawny is a reason to feel superior?

I do have a fair amount of bodybuilding and weightlifting pals that definitely have that feeling and I can see why: they do catch attention. Scrawny looking runners look weak in comparison to other athletes.

Dill Dickleson wrote:

I don't feel superior to people because I run. I feel superior to them because I spend all my time on LetsRun

That makes you a loser, sorry for you.

I don't think of myself superior anymore, but part of my old self begins to creep out whenever people embellish on their runs or completely speak ill of running.

I recently overheard someone bragging about how they have so much school work to balance along with NCAA D1 soccer. The guy was going on about how he was exhausted from just having finished a run, but I saw them practicing for myself and it couldn't have been more than 3-4 miles easy.

A friend of mine was at one point in the Navy, and his exact words were "running is dumb," along with a picture posted online of him running with his fellow sailors. He prides himself on being extremely fit, yet his cardiovascular health is seriously lacking. I should mind my own business, but he followed me first on Strava so that wasn't me going out of my way looking for things to nitpick about the guy.

Another friend of a friend is into lifting and feels the obligation to post every update of his life on social media. He then made it public that he wanted to run a marathon and posted every 4 mile run at 9-minute pace online as well as taking videos of himself running with awful form shirtless on the treadmill. Of course, he also posted that he is available for personal coaching for running.

All these instances happened within the span of a week.

I only worry about myself now and don't really concern myself about what others do, but these were all special cases. Each of them tried to make themselves look superior either in person or online through their mediocre running. I've been humbled by guys way faster than me who are completely free of ego and I've never been happier.