Top Ten Indicators You’re Washed Up

Have you been running ultras for a long time?  Wondering if maybe your best days are behind you?  Here are the top ten indicators that you may be a washed up ultrarunner.

Are You Washed Up?

Are you washed up like this whale?

  1. People come up to you at races you’ve won in the past and say, “you’re the guy that has the blog.”
  2. You can barely walk the day after a 50K.
  3. Your running year includes more than one PW.
  4. You haven’t run a PR in years.
  5. You drink as much as AJW before races.
  6. It’s a great race when you only get single-chicked.
  7. The thought of doing three more Western States makes your hips ache.
  8. You make bets you know you should win, but then lose big.
  9. You’re fat and you just don’t really care anymore.
  10. You find yourself blogging about the top ten indicators you may be a washed up ultrarunner.

17 Comments

  1. Here’s a few more top 10 contenders:

    When you can’t wear your “winner” t-shirts anymore since they fit over your belly about as well as a kids shirt does.

    Similar to above, you actually have to USE your belt buckles to keep your pants up. This of course leads to conversations about back when you could actually run.

    Type in “back in my prime” into Google, and your blog is #4 since you mention that phrase so often.

    You start challenging your friends to see who can run a six minute mile, your former per-mile marathon pace.

    You start racking up DNS’s to cut down on your DNF’s.

    You have more “obituaries” blog entries than “motivation” entries…and the obituaries are more interesting.

    You rack up age group wins since there is nobody left in your age group.

    😉 SD

  2. 1. Stopped worrying about getting chicked and started worrying about getting “grandma’d”.
    2. Two day or more travel time to most races since you don’t want to run anything you’ve done before due to obvious comparison issues that lead to poor self image.

  3. While it’s a totally different world for us middle of the packers, we too get washed up. I even tried to quite ultras but couldn’t figure out anything better, not beer, not cigarettes, not even ice cream.

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