What is your biggest running-related regret?

Biggest regret is listening to a teammate who told me to try some of his adderall before a long run. It worked so well and I felt so good that I started taking it for every long run. Soon I started taking it before every long run and every workout. Eventually I was popping a couple pills 30 minutes before every single run and every single race. It worked great for a while, but obviously when you don't have an actual prescription that's not really sustainable (and eventually the euphoric effects start to fade).

Started looking into other stimulants and went down that nasty rabbit hole. For essentially 2 straight years I walked into our locker room stimmed out on some substance. This is so embarrassing to say, but I remember one time I was out for a run and pretended I had to stop at a restroom when in reality I was dong a quick line off the toilet. Of course I was also not sleeping great and could barely eat, so my whole system was out of whack.

Eventually I got a stress fracture and during that down time realized I had a problem. Started talking to a therapist and was able to get clean, but my running was never the same. 8 years later and my body still doesn't feel fully recovered. I've seen doctors and they've assured me no serious damage has been done, but my whole cardiovascular system feels fried.

My story has a somewhat happy ending. I now work in sports psychology and have helped athletes dealing with substance abuse issues, but still my biggest regret is taking that first little blue pill.

My biggest regret is running through an injury and making it much worse. Then, I listened to doctors who are really salesmen for surgery. The injury was bad, but the surgery made things worse. Then another surgery to fix the first one. Worse still. Now I don't walk without pain. Running does not even seem like a realistic goal anymore. A pain free day would be like heaven. Damn, I miss running. I miss walking without pain.

I ran 2:22 when I was 23 before super shoes entered the chat. I ran another marathon the next year after absolutely smashing my buildup…110+ miles a week for 12 weeks, high quality workouts, felt ready to run under 2:18 (the OTQ was 2:19 at the time). Race day was super windy and then I blew out a hip flexor around mile 18 and limped home to 2:27. Got frustrated after that and didn’t train hard for 3 years. I’m running at a good level again, but only really have time for 60-70 miles a week with work/family. I know I never really reached my full potential in the marathon. Really wish I would have run one of the majors while I had all the time in the world to dedicate to getting after it.

I let running take control of my life during my junior year in college- let this lead me into a really bad eating disorder that ultimately lead to a broken leg and a loss of my last season ever.

Now have a healthy and wonderful relationship running, but I left so much on the table. Grateful for the teammates I had that jumped on it when they did

Just a lot of decisions I made while in college.

I was one of those mid/low-talent hard workers who busted my butt to get a small scholarship on a dii team. Constantly compared myself to teammates and never truly let go of my ego enough to just run an have fun with my friends.

Covid hit end of my freshman year so I missed freshman track/2nd year xc & indoor. Tried to make up for it summer going into 3rd year with high mileage but unfortunately suffered a stress fracture on my left foot. Had issues with my recovery and medical clearance and missed xc and indoor. Issues with my coach and minimal build up made outdoor a bust. At this point I decided to move on because I had enough credits to graduate after my 3rd yr.

Looking back I realize now there were some real underlying issues with my coach. I think we both had faults in the relationship. My biggest problem was resentment from feeling my coach prioritized better athletes more. Basically my ego. My faults aside, my coach's attitude to athletes is sometimes problematic and hard to digest. (Those choosing colleges: make sure the coach is a right fit for you--don't let the prestige of a school blind you). I basically just always came away from interactions with my coach feeling degraded.

It's tough to bring up those feelings, but there's a bright side to it now. I am running/racing on my own, and feeling great. I even ran a pr in the 8k last week (my pr was freshman year so it wasn't crazy fast). I can put those regrets to rest now because I'm doing it on my own terms now!

i had somewhat of a similar experience with very close to the same PR’s you had. I really got into my own head because i wanted to break out so badly that i focused on time. This was true especially in track byt xc too. I was crushing workouts and ran decently in races but never broke out in high school. I actually PR’d in the 5k after hs in a road race

Overthinking running. Thought if I just trained hard all the time I would be good. Outside of running did not take care of myself at all. Never saw the bigger picture.

Progression in running is such a simple thing really- gradually amp up training, stay healthy and just have fun with it. Having fun being the most important. You WILL improve no doubt with those basic concepts.

Left a D2 college with trash prs of 15:30 for 5k and 32 high for 10k. Not listening to my body, not backing off when feeling an injury come on, trying to run through injuries, running easy days too hard, not getting enough sleep, eating like sh!t, drinking and smoking weed/cigarettes way too often. I was young and stupid. But hey man in the end I got to run🤘🏼

This isn't really a regret, I guess, but:

I started running in 1971. Today's minimalist shoes have more support than what we had back then.

I was constantly injured and running in pain. In the 1980's shoes were getting more technical and offering more support, cushioning, etc. I even got a pair of custom orthotics that were lightweight, and I was able to replace the insole of my shoes (I even use them in spikes and racing flats).

That was the end of my shin splints, runner's knee, etc etc.

I often wonder how much better I could have been if we had today's technology then.

I ran 4:51 for the mile in 8th grade and was under 2:05 in the 880 in 9th grade.

Injuries curtailed any progress I could have made after that. = (

It's interesting you say that because I am currently injured with a very bad case of shin splints. I'm waiting to receive some orthotics for surpination.

Custom orthotics helped me to keep running to this day. I got my first pair in Aug 1984.

I am currently wearing Foor Levelers and I love them.

That is an amazing story and thank you for sharing it in all of its embarassing glory. I think the ending is a lot happier than you give yourself credit for. Glory might have escaped you...but look at what you are doing with your life now! If you had existed back when the buzz wore off, things would be different. You do exist now, and that matters for anyone who needs help reaching their true potential.

Personally I think lots of high school kids are using adderall which is why we're seeing these 'superkids' with ridiculous fast times, perfect GPA's, ACT's, SAT's...etc.

There's a 2011 fictional movie starring Bradley Cooper called 'Limitless' which addresses the benefits and pitfalls of
Nootropic drugs.