I did IM and so what?

personally, I did not feel that way. But hey, it's not for everyone!

Nope.

But I have no kids and my wife was very supportive every step of the way. Won't do another just to do it, will wait till I can set a good goal time and can meet it.

No. I've done 3 IMs and am ready to sign up for a 4th. I was able to balance work, home (granted no kids), social and training. Had the time of my life!

I blew my knee 3 weeks before I was going to do my first and I promise it would have been my last.  I felt exactly the same way. I love triathlon, but I don't give a rip about IM.

That's an interesting perspective that you don't see too much. More often you'll see someone who says it was totally worth it, but won't do another for a while since it was a big time commitment away from the family.

Another thing to keep in mind that endurance fitness is not entirely selfish because of the health benefits. it's not like you were off in a bar somewhere for hours.

To be clear, I'm not trying to invalidate your feelings because they're yours and entirely valid. Just commenting because I find it interesting.

Not at all.  I assessed all of that before going into it and pulling the trigger to race.  PLUS, if I felt that way while training?  I would have quit.  It's just a race.  It's only money.  They don't compare to family.

Are you saying you didn't realize the obligations required until AFTER the race and THEN it seemed too much of a sacrifice?

OR are you saying that after deciding to make all the sacrifices, the payout from finishing wasn't as great as you expected?  If that's the case, you might have been focusing too much on the finish line, rather than everything else you gain from it. 

Personally, the finish is just the bonus.  In some cases, I can barely remember the race, but I can vividly remember some of the long rides with friends and epic long runs.

I didn't do an IM but I've trained IM-type volume for a HIM, at one point 17-20hrs/week for a good 3 months straight. 

I also felt it wasn't worth it, so you're not alone. I was in the best shape of my life, had a great "A" race result, but in the end, it was a lot of added stress to my life to do all that training on top of full time job and family, and for nothing other than self-satisfaction. 

I'm now hovering at a sustainable volume from 9-12hrs per week, and training as well as life in general has become much more enjoyable! I'm not planning on doing an IM any time soon on that volume!

I will add however, that I love the training aspect. If it weren't for my job and family, I'd be happy to train 20+hrs per week regularly (I'd probably get too tired, to keep it up though, having done brief stints of it.) But life is life, and triathlon isn't a paying job for us AGers. I also think that if you're training with a regular team or squad, it makes the result more worth it, as there are more people to share your victory (or defeat). 

Its an inherently selfish pursuit which is why I raise money for charity with each IM I do.  Brings more meaning to it for me.  With no kids my perspective is going to vastly different tho.  Triathlon training keeps my head from exploding so yes I think its worth it