But there is one thing we can do, and that is work and slave hard enough to run times we never thought we would be able to do. Most runners i talk to these days gauge their race performance by how good they feel at the finish. To me, this is pathetic, you should NEVER feel good at the end of any race, or you didn't work hard enough. From 400 meters through any longer distance, your head should be "spinning" and you should be struggling to walk straight once you have finished. Otherwise, why would you even train for it if you know you wont so much as try to run your best?

For this mentality of just wanting to finish, for walking across the finish line rather than kicking, I have grown hostile to marathoners in the past few years. I realize its not always because of the marathoners themselves, but its the image they have cast on runners who don't like to run for hours on end. Most think the marathon is the do-all and end-all of running, the rest of us are just wanna-be's. I have talked to marathoners that belittle the race i enjoy (the mile). "A mile is easy, try doing 26 of them." Well, for anyone with this mentality, i ask you to beat me at that mile, then you have earned the right to laugh in my face. This points out how pathetic some people are, anyone can finish almost any distance if they run slow enough. I could easily jump on the marathon band wagon and join the crowd that just finishes races and pictures themselves standing on a pedestal well above everyone else, but that isn't me. I know i can finish a marathon, but i cant finish it in sub-6 averages, so what is the point?

 Bottom line is we need to get rid of this "good enough" attitude everyone seems to have. The instant you are satisfied with yourself, you sit down with a bag of chips, you slack, you lose, and you will never reach your potential.

I definately agree that we need to strive to continually improve ourselves and not be satisfied with mediocrity. The thing about running though, is that you can never be satisfied. You have one brief moment of glory when you reach that goal, then immediatley you set a loftier one. I mean you've gone this fast why not faster right? So you spend months or years chasing that goal until you obtain it and the cycle continues until you get to old and start slowing down. Then you have to live with the what if's. What if I had done more mileage, more speedwork, eaten better, or just gone out faster in that one race? Eventually you have to let yourself be satisfied with what you've done. I know this isnt exactly what the thread is about but it got me thinking how running can turn into somewhat of an obsession. It's usually these types of runners, like myself, that get so pissed about the "walk if you want (not have to)" marathoners. I know not everyone is going to put in the kind of training it takes to reach FULL potential and thats fine, but on race day you better be giving it your best shot.

ok I'm done