You are obviously making up this benefit: "I also know not to waste time talking to people who consider exercise a waste of time. We have different values." since you've obviously wasted a significant amount of time writing this relatively lengthy comment as a response to someone who considers exercise a waste of time..

I shared my experience with a community of thoughtful people from whose experiences I have benefited, not with one individual.

I don't consider sharing experiences relevant to the post a waste of time. I value when people do it for me.

Oh wow, you obviously caught an important inconsistency, so the parent poster must be wrong wrong wrong!

Wait, nope.

Not what I said at all.

It is fair enough, I wouldn't consider it a waste either if I enjoy it either.

My problem is that I don't, basically. I hate the feeling of being sweaty, the shortness of breath, the constricting feeling in my throat, the thirst, etc.

But most of all I hate that if I spend the time doing that and the stop, six months later I will be back to square one. If I spend the time learning a new skill, reading a book or even watching a movie then six months later I would still have the skill or be able to talk about the book or the movie.

This is a great point. Despite coming from a very different starting point, it really resonates with me.

I love running, absolutely love it. In the past, I used to run at least 10 times a week and do a 4hr+ run in the beautiful mountains near my home about once a month. I enjoyed the nature, I felt good, and it did wonderful things both for my body and mind. It's amazing how easy everything feels when you have a resting pulse of 50!

On the other hand, I don't run anymore and unfortunately running fitness can be built or lost very quickly. After a few months of inactivity it really is mostly gone. Looking back on it now, it's very difficult not to feel a little bit guilty about all the hours I spent on running trails. I too, would prefer to have been building lasting skills such as learning a musical instrument or dancing.

The one exception is the times I went on long runs with my old roommate. That was worth it in every way since we often had great conversations and got several hours worth of running outdoors as a bonus!