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

former ego wrote:

I know a few runners who look down on relatively fit people with even a little bit of excess fat on them, even if they have a fair amount of muscle

I consider myself superior to those who don't exercise enough, yes. I still respect someone who is good at a different form of exercise.

I’ve never felt more superior over a larger group of people at once than when I went to Disney World. Truly the worst gluttony & sloth I’ve ever seen.

Look, I'm in the medical field. I see what inactivity does do individuals, and by extension what it does to society. So yes I do feel superior by getting off my butt and training for 2 marathons a year to keep myself healthy, on zero meds, never needing to see a doctor, benefits me and society. I do feel superior do those that do nothing to actively better their health by getting at least 20 minutes of cardio a day (such a low bar) to develop basic fitness.

former ego wrote:

I know a few runners who look down on relatively fit people with even a little bit of excess fat on them, even if they have a fair amount of muscle

Most people here consider themselves superior to others because they're white.

No, just luckier.

While I consider it fun to fly by a bunch of hobbyjoggers, I realize that...

1. Most of my speed is based on genetics, as there are a ton of people who train more than me and are way slower.

2. Some of the slower people aren't training as much as me but ARE doing more useful things in life then running

So no, I don't feel superior

I consider myself a superior runner, not just superior in general.

This could translate to considering myself superior in general if all I cared about were running accomplishments. I'm no Bekele so that path would have only lead to the acknowledgement of pitiful mediocrity.

However when my training is going great and I'm peaking for a race feeling very hyped up, running does become all I care about. So for a while I would consider myself clearly superior to pitiful normies.

Not anymore. When I was a kid I did because it seemed so easy and had so many benefits that I thought it was unreasonable to not run/exercise vigorously. Now that I'm well into my career running is just one more BS thing I have to do after work, it's much harder and increasingly more joyless than being on a HS or college team. I totally understand anyone who doesn't want to do it, and I even respect the former athletes who are confident enough to drop it cold turkey.

MR_SATAN wrote:

Not anymore. When I was a kid I did because it seemed so easy and had so many benefits that I thought it was unreasonable to not run/exercise vigorously. Now that I'm well into my career running is just one more BS thing I have to do after work, it's much harder and increasingly more joyless than being on a HS or college team. I totally understand anyone who doesn't want to do it, and I even respect the former athletes who are confident enough to drop it cold turkey.

L

aoxomoxoa wrote:

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.

ok. boomer.

No. People with massive egos are total arseholes.

Cmon you idiots, quit the BS. Of course runners are superior to other human beings.

While your personal experience here may be true, running (at any level) is protective of cardiovascular health from a population/statistical perspective.

If other factors are assumed equal, a runner is superior health-wise to a non-runner.

From a physical standpoint, yes! I have very good health and compared to my non-running friends of a similar age I have none of the health issues that they do.

I don’t look down on others and people who are in worse shape because everybody has different strengths and weaknesses, however I do think that having good aerobic fitness is one of the most biologically and psychologically satisfying strengths a person can have. I would much rather be good at running than good at something like magic tricks because that’s what gets my dopamine flowing, but the person who is good at magic might get the same dopamine and confidence rush from that activity as I do from running so it’s all relative!

Maybe if I was a young child or teenager then I might have more of an ego about my fitness, but I feel like once you are an adult - working towards achieving ego death will make your life more honest and stress free (because let’s face it, going out of your way to impress people for credibility is time consuming and just proves you care too much about what others think).

The only way I feel superior is with my health, but that’s not in a way where I think I’m better than people - it’s in a way where I feel a bit sad for people who aren’t reaping these amazing benefits. Being fit feels good, and I’ve been out of shape (unhealthy fat levels and smoking) before and it does make your body feel like a jail. Being in good shape for endurance means your body is free.

Amen to that. I feel bad for people obsessed with going to gyms with their only focus to get as muscular as possible. Coming from a lifting background myself, I can undoubtedly say I feel A LOT better when in good running shape vs lifting shape. Granted, as a mid-d guy I'm a mix of both, but in my opinion, nothing rivals the feeling of being able to run, jump, or climb after a nice long summer building base for XC. It feels as if you just get more out of your breaths and that you could run forever if you wanted to. It's a shame most people would rather look a certain way than feel as if you have no limits. There's no reason they can't find a balance, either, even if that's 20 minutes every other day.

Most people hate aerobic exercise because it feels very uncomfortable when out of shape! But if you are under 30 and otherwise healthy, all it takes is a few weeks of dealing with that discomfort and one’s fitness level improves significantly and aerobic exercise starts to become enjoyable very quickly, it isn’t something that requires a lot of time and dedication in order to reap benefits. If people would just stick it out for a short while, I guarantee that most people would fall in love with exercising but hardly anyone gives it the time of day. :( and as you pointed out, even 20 mins every other day would cut it! And yeah I like to lift too (for injury prevention) but I have to agree that having endurance feels better (but of course, having both in your routine is best for health).

Some of the rich people honestly worked hard, but some just were lucky, had connections, or were born into wealth.

This is incredibly true.

On Feb. 6 I struggled to run 6 miles under 56 minutes, but now can do 10 easily in 82 with not too much effort. Just with base building.