Slow or Boring

In my twenties I lived with another runner. I would stay out and party-- I loved to fashion myself as the poetic, rock-star runner idiot. My roommate went to bed early, rarely drank, and ate mostly plants. For a while, I ran faster, improved more, and certainly had more fun.

We talked about running a lot-- we had opposite approaches to the sport: I got into running to compete and gradually found peace in the routine, while they got into running for the peace in the routine and gradually found they could compete.

We stopped living together but continued running, continued our habits. Two years later, I had mostly quit, while my roommate had gradually gradually gradually so improved that they qualified for the Olympic Trials. There are a thousand reasons for the difference in our careers, but most of them involve our differing habits of sleep, diet and consistency. I loved calling myself an athlete but only doing half of the work (the work portion). They rarely spoke about running to others, but they trained hard, for specific races, slept eight hours a night, and ate well.

Speaking goals into existence, faking it till you're making it, surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals to hold you accountable, all work, but only in so much as they affect your actions. It's easy to call yourself an athlete; it is very, very difficult (and often very boring) to truly live like one.