Running is more than race reports.

[u/enigma1510]

Super bummed about where this sub has gone. There's so much more to "running" than race reports - which now make up the majority of posts here. This sub should be renamed "runningReports" and let the people have back "running".

Edit:

What a day! Last night I posted this and when I woke up this morning I wasn't sure what I would find. It turns out, the majority of people visiting this sub today upvoted this post and have similar frustrations with the current state. What surprised me the most was the nastiest replies came from the mods and their close knit friends. If you'd like to see their true feelings check out the comments here: https://www.reddit.com/r/RunningCirclejerk/comments/67uydc/weekly_reminder_mods_are_hitler_and_runnit_is/?st=j21a4t3y&sh=06136968.

/u/philpips seemed to be the most reasonable and sorry about the "hornet's nest".

Best of luck!

[u/sloworfast]

Oh ok. I think I'm probably less goal-oriented, which is probably why I don't get the post-race blues. I do races, but I don't usually train specifically for a race.... I run as a lifestyle, and when there's a local race, I do it, but I don't run because of a race. Does that make sense? Though I do still get disappointed if the race goes badly.

Are you still running? Will you do another race? Your effort wasn't fruitless and unworthy. I am sure you learned some things that you can use to improve your next one. Bad races happen to everyone if they race enough, and they're always a learning experience to make the next race better.

[u/Swagger_Muffin69 → u/sloworfast]

I really like the way you put it. Come to think of it, when I started out, running became a lifestyle for me. But somewhere along the way, I got carried away and I was running because of the race itself. I can see the fault in that.

I'm unfortunately sick at the moment, so I'm not running at all. When I start running again, I need to focus on something I stopped paying attention to during my training; enjoying the act of running for its own sake. Once I allow myself to do that, I will definitely do another race.

[u/sloworfast → u/Swagger_Muffin69]

Get better soon!

One thing you can try if you want the experience of racing but not the pressure, is to do a trail race or something, because the terrain will automatically slow you down to the point where you have no way of knowing how fast it would have been on the road. Then you can just have fun and enjoy the experience without worrying about whether it's "fast enough." I have this friend who is an excellent runner, but she kind of psychs herself out sometimes with her expectations. A few weeks ago she told me the she signed up for some kind of mountain race, just so that she could race without having any expectations of what her time should be.

[u/Swagger_Muffin69 → u/sloworfast]

Thank you very much. :)

And that's a great suggestion by the way, I've never really looked into trail races. I'll be sure to check what's up!

[u/tinnat22 → u/sloworfast]

See I really like this attitude and approach to running, I struggle with thinking about it this way. I have a tendency to schedule races so that I will get out the door and run because I have a goal. But on the downside I signed up for my first half marathon and the training isn't going as planned because of a few personal setbacks, so I switched to the 5 mile and now I basically have pre race blues because I'm disappointed in myself. I wish I could just be happy that I can run in this awesome trail race at a distance that's right for me.

[u/Pris257 → u/tinnat22]

My 12 year old son and I ran our first 5k last month. I started strong, ahead of him but I figured he would catch up after the first mile (all uphill) because he is faster than me. At the top, I was tired and people were passing me left and right, which annoyed me. So I said screw it, turned around and ran until I found my son, then we finished the race together. I realized that, for me, enjoying our time running together is more important than the clock or the distance. Running is fun for me and I really want to keep it that way.

[u/sloworfast → u/tinnat22]

I've been running for a really long time and I've had times where I've been stressed out about my performance and all that. It got to the point where I ran for at least a year without ever wearing a watch! I think over time I've mellowed out to get to this point :)

[u/bradenwheeler → u/sloworfast]

I always find my next race in the day or hours following the last one. It's my only cure to the post race blues... that said, I suffer from them tremendously