I was 23 or 24 (5 years in college) and I started working and drinking and just didn't want to run anymore. I would run a handful of times over roughly a 7 year break and would stop again until this year. January 1st I resolved to get in shape and I have been enjoying running more than I think I ever have from a pure training perspective.
I think my biggest reason for not running was upon graduating I had no job prospects and I felt I wasted 5 years of my life in college and running was the only reason I had gone to school in the first place.
I am very thankful to still be able to run as I approach 50. I can't imagine anything other than permanent injury stopping me. Just deciding, eh, I'm not going to run anymore? I can't see that happening.
Those of you who have had permanent injuries or joint replacements, you have my sincere sympathy. I hope it never happens to me. If it does, it will be a very difficult transition, both physically and mentally.
Good question! There are probably many factors why the AG tables and calculators indicate I am age graded 'faster' now than 45 years ago:
-I wasn't very fast when I was young (am still not!)
-Not training 70-90 mpw and trying to keep up in practice with much much more talented runners while in college. ( I left some of my best running in practice and warm-ups) Also it was a big deep and talented team; so even at the back end of the pack it was better than most teams.
-Not working three jobs (65 hours combined) a week and going to grad school year round right out of undergraduate studies and still trying to run and race 75-80 a week. And in later still working way too much overtime.
- Stopping drinking at 41 y/o
- After age 30 moving to ten year racing cycles. Training progressively harder in the year or two before moving up to the next 10 year age bracket and continuing race and hammer it for a few years before backing off. Although now I don't think that matters as much and just keeping a 'sane' amount of pressure on (15-20% at 10k projected race pace) with 40-60 a week.
-Retiring at 56 (same job 33 years) and being able to take a nap when needed.
-Daily 6:00 planks, push-ups and bicycle crunchs (total time commitment <10 minutes)
-Consistency: Luckily I am fairly durable and haven't taken a day off since August 1992 (three mile daily minimum - some pretty slow!!!)
-Collective Training and Race experience? I have run maybe 500-600 races from the 800m to ultras and have realized that I will not die (so far at least) if I just push beyond where I think I can go. AND knowing when to back off in training.
-Luck ? Just out lasting my age peers that the tables are based on.
Again every single day is a gift and I treat as such.
Didn’t really train seriously after college. Did triathlons and trail races for a couple years, but more recreationally. Spent more time fishing and climbing mountains than running. In my late twenties I decided to get married and move on to the next stage in life. Still run for health, but stopped doing real training decades ago. There is a time and a season for everything.
Age 69. 47th year. I should have quit several years ago probably.
Now, I fight and scratch for every mile. The injuries too numerous to list. I quit racing finally last year. I do things now like this morning. 1 mile, go to grocery store, get back run another mile
Only run more than 1:15, twice a week.
700 miles this year, 10,000 miles since 2018, 100,000 miles since 1977 but worn out.
@ 47. I had patellar tendonitis in both knees. My training had been crappy for the last two years. Even with making adjustments (one hard workout a week instead of two, adding cross training, etc.), I was just spending all my time trying to keep from getting slower. I got back into running when I was 32 and had a good 10-12 years of improving times with my PRs coming in my early 40s. But once age caught up to me, I just lost interest after it took months to get over patellar tendonitis and did not feel like climbing the mountain anymore.
I still run a few miles 4-5 days a week just to keep the weight off. I broke my ankle last Memorial Day and put on almost 20 lbs. Running, lifting weights and watching my diet helped me drop the weight over a period of about 4 months. I am now just 5 lbs from what I weighed when I stopped training and racing. And a good bit of that is more muscle mass from going to the gym.
Everything comes to an end. As the spider said in Charlotte's Web, "we are born, we live a little and then we die." Life is too short to force yourself to keep doing something just because you always did it. There is a time when training and racing is a lot of fun and very rewarding. After 45, it is an entirely different activity. So, for me, it was clear that it was time to call it quits and move on.
"Competitive" running, when I was actually trying to train real hard to run PRs or race as fast as I could? When I graduated college. I was a shorter distance runner and not fast enough to keep training at a high level. I was never going to make the olympic trials, and below that there is not much incentive to run hard post-collegiately if you're not a marathoner or competitive road racer.
Regular hobby jogging? I go on and off since college. Currently not really running - haven't run more than 8 miles in a single week since I had long covid back in 2021 (was 41), and more weeks than not it's zero miles. It was a real real struggle to get even close to 20 miles a week, even a year after first contracting covid. Besides my lungs, constant sore knees, ankles, limping in the morning - never felt good doing it. Switched to long walks/hiking, LOTS of yard work, more consistent weight program, more time/ability for basketball and other activities and feel much better for it. The memories of how I felt the last few years when I was running really take away any motivation to try to run more consistently. I do enjoy getting out for a 2-3 mile trail run when the weather is right. I actually weigh less than 2021 (still 20 lbs more than college - but am way stronger) and all my blood tests are as good as ever. If you find another competitive outlet in your life, you might find it to be much more beneficial to yourself or others than having a better 10k race.
At age 61 I was hit out of the blue by rheumatoid arthritis, which quickly made my hips so painful that I no longer wanted to try to run. That was followed a year later by a bout of runner's dystonia, and for a while I could barely walk. Somehow I mostly got over the dystonia and have started learning how to manage the RA. Now, at age 66, I can jog without pain on good days, but I've lost so much fitness that it feels awful. I'm making slow improvement and I still hope to regain running as an enjoyable activity at some point.
* Non-injury-related physical decline (e.g. lack of energy, noticeable decrease in speed or stamina, etc.)
* Lack of interest in, or resolve to, train and race hard.
* Lack of mental space or time, due to other priorities in life as you got older.
* Just bored. Felt like going through the options.
* Tired of running culture. Feels narcissistic and lots of acquaintances but no real friends.
* Found a more enjoyable physical activity in which you try to excel.
* Got out-of-shape for some reason outside your control (e.g. cancer or went to prison) and wasn't motivated to rebuild fitness from scratch
* Banned from LetsRun forum and stopped caring about running thereafter
I know it's hard to choose 1 and they're often inter-related.
23. There was gradual decline in serious as I neared the end of college and realized I didn’t have elite potential. So, my last race of my senior year of college was essentially the last race.
This was me. I still don't know if I could have been elite, but looking back now I know that I could have ran higher mileage and this probably would have produced much better results.
I also was laser-like focused on preparing for my non-running career, to the point that I sat out a couple seasons in college to concentrate on schoolwork.
Once that last race ended, I just didn't see the point anymore.
In college I was dialed in on the idea of running post college thought it was my calling. In high school I had modest PR’s 800m 2:02, 1600m 4:24, 3200m 9:19, 5KXC 15:39. In college I transferred to a solid running school as a walk on and wound up running a 5000m in 14:39, and a 10,000m in 30:04 and finishing 45th at Nationals in XC for my division. My coach took a new job and wanted a bunch of us to follow which I did. I wound up improving to a 7th place finish at XC Nationals and running PR’s of 800m 1:52, 1500m 3:45, Mile 4:04, 5000m 14:17, and 10,000m 29:05. I was told I should come back and train post college and when I called my coach about it after training all summer, he basically noted his intentions that he was done with me as an athlete. I gave it a shot for almost a year moving to the roads and running a 10k in 30:50, 15k in 46:49, and a marathon in 2:23 and called it a career at that point. The idea of living broke and chasing a running dream was more work than it was worth. I tried to get back into it bussing tables and working as a bar back in Venice Beach, CA. In 2007 I was walking down Hollywood Blvd saw a sign that said hiring on a Navy Recruiters door walked in went through the process and was in bootcamp 3 months later, a year after that I was married, a year after that I had a daughter. Ran a couple of races for the Navy nothing too impressive such as a marathon in 2:24 winning the 2008-Armed Forces Title, Ran another one in 2:27, and one in Serbia in 2:31, also ran a couple of 5000m races in 14:38, 14:39, 14:57. At the end of 2010 I was done with the running and did it mainly for fitness reasons still running low 15’s for a 5k with training like 2 days a week. I tried to give it one more shot in 2014 but a cardiac event almost killed me. Went to some advanced Navy Schools and Completed the college degree that I was never pushed to do as an athlete, also went to Grad School and completed that along with multiple master’s degrees now. I was medically retired from the Navy due to the cardiac event and now work for the DoD happily married 42 years old gluten free and still jog for fitness but have zero desire to train hard and have found other competitive interests playing in the WSOP this summer and that is way more exciting than destroying myself on a track. I also found when I stepped away from running how much I disliked the attitude that goes along with it I also did not care for the person it made me.
In college I was dialed in on the idea of running post college thought it was my calling. In high school I had modest PR’s 800m 2:02, 1600m 4:24, 3200m 9:19, 5KXC 15:39. In college I transferred to a solid running school as a walk on and wound up running a 5000m in 14:39, and a 10,000m in 30:04 and finishing 45th at Nationals in XC for my division. My coach took a new job and wanted a bunch of us to follow which I did. I wound up improving to a 7th place finish at XC Nationals and running PR’s of 800m 1:52, 1500m 3:45, Mile 4:04, 5000m 14:17, and 10,000m 29:05. I was told I should come back and train post college and when I called my coach about it after training all summer, he basically noted his intentions that he was done with me as an athlete. I gave it a shot for almost a year moving to the roads and running a 10k in 30:50, 15k in 46:49, and a marathon in 2:23 and called it a career at that point. The idea of living broke and chasing a running dream was more work than it was worth. I tried to get back into it bussing tables and working as a bar back in Venice Beach, CA. In 2007 I was walking down Hollywood Blvd saw a sign that said hiring on a Navy Recruiters door walked in went through the process and was in bootcamp 3 months later, a year after that I was married, a year after that I had a daughter. Ran a couple of races for the Navy nothing too impressive such as a marathon in 2:24 winning the 2008-Armed Forces Title, Ran another one in 2:27, and one in Serbia in 2:31, also ran a couple of 5000m races in 14:38, 14:39, 14:57. At the end of 2010 I was done with the running and did it mainly for fitness reasons still running low 15’s for a 5k with training like 2 days a week. I tried to give it one more shot in 2014 but a cardiac event almost killed me. Went to some advanced Navy Schools and Completed the college degree that I was never pushed to do as an athlete, also went to Grad School and completed that along with multiple master’s degrees now. I was medically retired from the Navy due to the cardiac event and now work for the DoD happily married 42 years old gluten free and still jog for fitness but have zero desire to train hard and have found other competitive interests playing in the WSOP this summer and that is way more exciting than destroying myself on a track. I also found when I stepped away from running how much I disliked the attitude that goes along with it I also did not care for the person it made me.
I wish I would have had a career as successful as this. I worked darn hard at it and like you was put on military teams ( Army 10-mile run being my favorite)
I also ended up after active duty working at a Navy Base… and retired from there although it’s an obscure place NSWC Crane is what it used to be called. Haven’t been there since I was retired but loved it and it was an honor to work there.
Running did EVERYTHING for me. I owe distance running everything. It was responsible for every promotion and penny I ever made ( although my times weren’t close to yours and hats off) I got everything out of myself I could ( 2700-3300 miles a year, races everywhere…RD’d all of Cranes races, high school volunteer XC coach) and man am I gonna miss it. I think unlike you as well, I really like the person it made me, it made me anything I ever was.
Well done on your great running career!
This post was edited 4 minutes after it was posted.
66 started shifting away from training to just doing what I felt like. Hip resurfacing surgery wasn't too bad but tearing patella tendon of knee cap left me with a weaker right leg. Hard mentally to run 9+ min/mile when those 6 minute miles 30 years ago felt so comfortable.
Have accepted to take what I can do and be happy. Still moving around but more to get outside and enjoy fresh air.
Last couple of years have only run one race a year. Pikes Peak Ascent which is not a race as much as a steady effort whether jogging or power hiking. 4 hours of pain/bliss
I quit the sprints at age 25 when I realized I was just not ever going to be fast enough. I have maintained my love of running and hobby jog about 4.5miles every other day or sometimes every two days.