Interesting question..
I ponder this often (which is not a good sign). I can go weeks without any running. Days dwift by,, yeah, i'll run later, never do......One year I won Towpath Ten by a good distance and didn't run for 6 weeks afterwards as I 'didn't feel like it`. Crazy! I once was the subject of a study that looked at why pretty promising runners didn't run. I was plagued with questions, interviews, forms etc. The MSc research found little and did little with all the brains involved. Then all of a sudden I ran every day for 6 weeks. And on it goes, year in, year out. Chasing that dream but not really chasing it in any direction apart from circles.
Indeed, today, I ran Surrey lge. I have hardly run more than 10 mins for the last 2 weeks and had a sniffling nose and general low feeling. . So what on earth was the point? Why even bother lining up? 1st point was the aim of feeling better about myself (which I guess worked). The 2nd point was that I would probably score for my club and we all know the last scorers can be pretty important.. (the difference of staying up or dropping a division).
This is an important point at this stage of my life as I have let the years drift by for whatever reason and feel the signs of regret kicking in (which is another bad sign!). The years of kitesurfing, beach dwelling, fixing VW engines, welding (trying to!), entertaining etc catching up with me.. I would not go as far to say I was a total loser in them years. I would race afew times a year and cycle a fair bit. I was and maybe still am a 'binge athlete'.. for example, get dropped off 10 miles from Worthing and run 10 miles along the A24 so I HAD to run 10 miles along the A24! crazy stuff like that.. get dropped off 10 miles to Penzance so I HAD to run 10 miles to home etc. All from very little background and base. Another example more recently would be running to school 8 miles and instead of getting the bus home (hey, I forgot my Oyster card so Transport for London legally rob us - For all you Americans an Oyster card gives us reduced travel round London so make sure you get one here or they take you to the cleaners (not literally, don't panic)....I decided to run home. After a Hepatitis b jab thats not the best thing and I found myself having to walk across Wimbledon Common till I could find some sugars at Robin Hood gate. As all the pubs down there have been sold off for Flats and housing I couldn't even give up and have a quick half to drown my sorrows!! ok, back to the question...
The 3rd was to feel I had achieved something good at the start of the season, be part of something and see the bigger picture of support for the Surrey League. This is essential for the club structure where all development takes place for the youngsters to follow through and where the coaching fraternity live. . The once mighty Surrey League is naturally not where it was in the 80's or the 90's.
For many an athlete, not running well or to their ability of old can create more stress through underachievement.
Its all too easy to look at the wall sometimes and eat another Hob Nob, the seventh in a row.... I can remember many a wasted day looking at the sea, then my bike, then the sea, then my bike, then the kettle, then my women, then the cake, then the teabag... we all know where that led..... so at 30 something I feel a little more tired than at 20, my physiological clock ticking... For a reasonable natural athlete with a background a top 15 placing in Surrey league Div 1 is not that difficult. Certainly easier than 10/20 years ago. Even a top 10 placing can be achieved off some regular consistent training and i'm not talking more than 50 mile a week either.
Will you or I be one of them athletes that looks into his pint at 45 and says 'if only'. I hope not, even if other things take priority at the moment it is the ability to put that stress into a POSITIVE place for ones running and hopefully, from that, running becomes second nature again. However, the possibility of joining the band if overeating spoilt kids on the 57 bus remains there. The lure of the £1.75 pint at the student bar plays mind games, the Oyster card pulling me towards the nearest bus stop (never!), the ample chicken and chip shops reaching out to you from evey corner in Tooting, even the chicken calls your name its so undercooked........"come, come, eat me, I am 6 weeks old and all my friends died of heart attacks as we were stuffed full of steroids, come come and rejoice in the new city dish"!..........tbc.......anon