The depressing reality of college runners

how did he die?

Considering that we just witnessed so-called professional runners at the nationals performing in a three-quarters empty stadium, this is a perfectly reasonable take.

I suspect some shoe company executives who witnessed the event are rethinking the sponsorship model and wondering if they’re just p!ssing money away.

The "reality" is that NO ONE goes into the sport of professional running to earn "generational wealth". You participate in the sport to learn how hard to push yourself, and to test your mental and physical limits. As the owner of three companies, I look for potential employees who have demonstrated the ability to be disciplined, reliable, and hard working. The last time I checked, anyone who has been a collegiate runner (or athlete), have shown to have these traits. Being president of your fraternity or sorority doesn't move the needle much compared to someone who has balanced the rigors of collegiate athletics and academics.

Again, it's the PROCESS and life lessons you learn as an athlete which is the true "Wealth", and last a lifetime.

They go into pro running so they don’t have to get a day job

I remember hearing Kyle Merber on a podcast talking about interviews after he retired from running. He said the employers were more interested in his organizing of races than his mile times. In other words, they didn’t give a sh!t about his running.

Hard work and discipline are hardly exclusive to running. In fact, that’s the whole point of the college degree is to show employers that you have those traits.

OP has put a lot of identifying information here. Unless he changed some, it should be easy to find out who he's talking about, which doesn't sit easily with me. However, I think this is fake.

If it's not, then it sounds like the runner is about 20. If he keeps training like he is, then he might age into the training, and run his fastest times at 28-32. 13:30 is not beyond possibility. He may or may not consider that worth it, but those are truly exceptional times.

Let alone the ones who get butt hurt over training like this are those who can't crack 17.

Why are you making fun of him for majoring in exercise science? Good physical therapists make 6 figs. Becoming a running coach is a dream job. And tens of millions of Americans have good jobs that are unrelated to their degrees. Having a degree in any subject from a decent school is enough to find success in a first world country.

While he is obsessed with his running, his peers are obsessed with partying and promiscuity. They are destroying themselves while he is learning real world skills. The hard work he puts into his running can later be applied to his career and family life.

As my moniker implies, I coached track & XC for over 30 years. Personally, I was a walk-on at a Division II university. By the end of my freshman year, I was fifth man on the XC team. Don't get overly excited I couldn't break 25 minutes for five miles that year. We were an average DII team with only 1 runner who could break into CSU Fullerton's NCAA DII Championship squad. But I had a blast all four years running XC and track being what people call a "grinder," Little talent with a lot of heart. More importantly, I picked the brains of some great coaches like Len Miller and Bob Messina. And I eventually passed my love of running on to thousands of high schoolers. One of them shared that the discipline and perseverance he experienced through running is what helped him get through medical school. So, while thousands of us "grinders" log miles and achieve a not easily quantifiable reward, we are the ones who quite often become those high school coaches that pass on the love for the sport.

These were some spot on posts about college running. Yes, it’s hard and doesn’t pay much, but you do it for the love of the sport, and improvement. Our coach kept his job simple and our responsibility was simple also. Show up for workout and try to do the workout or race for that day. Our coach kept things upbeat the best he could, but a runner was expected to manage things the best he could.

Sounds like he's a 14:10 guy- whats wrong with that? Does being a valuable member of a team mean nothing? A good teammate? A good experience?

It's not a vacation for many going somewhere in life. It's very hard work.

similar to this kid I was top 10 at nxn in hs then I ran very high mileage (coach had me up to 130mpw) at a P5 school just before super shoes era and managed a 14:11. I was dry in season and had a consistent bedtime and fairly healthy lifestyle. I didn’t have an illusions that it would be my future profession but I held out hopes for an individual track nationals berth that never came.

Since graduating, I’ve gotten married to my gf I met on the women’s team, my groomsmen were comprised of my hs and college XC teammates, and while I’ve never been a pro I’ve kept running on the side and run two OT marathons as a passion-hobby. I have two kids and I fully credit what rigorous training and dedication during those formative years did for me in my ability to manage it all and have a happy, fulfilling life. Wish the same future for this kid. Only thing I would have changed was cutting off maybe 20-30mpw and slowing down my easy runs a bit, hope he’s not hammering every day

Let me get this straight; running is paying for his college? WTF is wrong with that? That is a VERY good deal!

"Fending for himself in the civilian world" after graduation pays about 500% more than being a pro runner.

Scholarship probably means books are paid for.

Too 10 at NXN and then 14:10? What happened?

Great high school performances can be the result of early maturation.

Honestly man, great post and good for you. You tried to get the most out of yourself, toyed around w some OT marathons, and otherwise moved on with your life. Yours is a story of how it should be done. Max out high school, college, and then a couple more years if there’s anything left in the tank. Then, move on applying the lessons you learned…

You would make a good private investigator.

My first response is, who cares? He is IN COLLEGE. His frontal lobe is barely developed. His long-term decision making ability is still developing. He will make a lot of mistakes in his 20s. You are SUPPOSED to make a lot of mistakes in your 20s. It's how you do this thing called growing and maturing into a fully functioning adult.

Athletic performance has never not been about ego. He enjoys bloviating about this on IG. He will tire of this someday and will probably look back on it with a feeling of cringe in about 10 years.

I'd much rather have an obsessive but driven kid like this in my class or on my team than the average Gen Zer whose life outlook seems to be little more than:

"No men! No meat! No genders! No leather! No processed foods! No sex! No binaries! No borders! No English! No cars! No unsafe spaces! No Republicans! No Democrats! No politics! No work! Land back!"

... As they protest in their Patagonia fleeces with a price tag that could feed your average household in the Global South for a month.

as a few people have pointed out, this thread is about me

before i start, the op is a cat for not namedropping me – at least give me the attention ya flog.

he didn’t mention my age – i just turned 21 and i find it funny how i can be fully written off already. i haven’t hit my physical peak yet and i’ve only been running for 6 years.

my current prs are 14:10 for 5k and 3:47 for 1500m. i didn’t get a new 5k pb this past year but context is everything. i ran 14:10 at bryan clay in 2024 and came 9th in my heat. this year i ran 14:10 again, but it was at lee where i came 2nd (1st ran 14:05 and was an all-american in xc). it was also my first track season after transferring, and i still saw progression in my 1500m (a 1 second pr in 35°c heat). by the end of the season things were starting to click with the new training. i also dealt with iron issues and some mental health struggles. for me, staying steady through that and still racing well was progress. if the op really did his research he would have noticed a pattern in my running – i always plateau for 2 years before i improve. 14:47 in 2022, 14:43 in 2023, 14:10 in 2024, 14:10 again in 2025. this is just a trend i know but i do feel like i have progressed and i am super excited to show it next track season.

you know what’s funny about taking the mickey out of my pb and my work ethic – if you had told me in 2021, when i had just run 15:10 after 2 years of 80+ mile weeks, that i’d run 14:10 in my whole career, i would have been bloody stoked. same with the 1500 – i never thought i’d run sub 3:50. now i’m very confident i can dip under 14 and more. if i got hit by a car tomorrow and couldn’t run again, i’d be satisfied with my pbs. does that mean i don’t want to train hard and improve? of course not. but having that perspective has helped me keep things in context.

i don’t see myself as a 1500/5k guy long term. my build is better suited for xc, 10k, and eventually the marathon. i am naturally slow as bricks – i could barely break 30 seconds for 200m in high school. even now, with lightspeed work, plyometrics, and heavy compound lifting, i can still barely break 13 in a rolling 100. that’s going to hold me back in the shorter stuff. but i’ve never been injured doing dumb training – i ran 100 miles a week at 16 and 110–120 miles last xc season. i’m durable, and as the op mentioned, i do believe it will pay off in the long run over longer distances. this sport is all about stacking years on years and believing that it will work in the long run

op called me “obsessed.” i’ll own that. i love running. i love studying exercise science, testing things on myself and my athletes, reading research, seeing what works. i’ve never hidden that. it is what i have built my content around since i started posting in 2020

from this obsession ive been able to start a coaching business. i coach 13 athletes and helping them succeed is just as fulfilling as chasing my own pbs. one of my athletes, at 15, has already run 3:59 for 1500m. another ran 14:27 and earned a scholarship in the us. another debuted with a 2:29 marathon. coaching is something i’m super passionate about, and it’s already giving me a career path and some income while i’m studying. on my major – sure, exercise science gets called a “mickey mouse” degree, but it gives me options. i’m really into research, so i can see myself pursuing a master’s. i could also stay in the us and coach collegiately. i’ve worked a lot in running retail and would love to be a brand tech rep. one day i’d like to open a running store back home, but i want to do a lot more before that.

whether i ever run professionally or not, i’ll always pursue my own running. i find it sad how many people give it up after college. my love for the sport goes deeper than performance. of course i want to run fast and win races, but i simply love the process. running is an individual sport and i want to explore how good i can get.

i’m not naive about the odds. i know im not going to become an olympian. honestly i couldn’t care less. what matters to me is giving it a red hot crack and leaving no stone unturned. if i do that, i’ll be satisfied.

so yeah – i’m 21. i’m durable. i’m still progressing. i coach, i study, and i’m in this sport for the long run

let’s see how this xc season goes before writing me off