What would you do different if you were even younger?

Don't quit. Get on the team. You will regret it (for a long long time) if you don't at least get in top shape and try.

Running only takes an hour a day. Frank Shorter had a decent college career and he was pre med/law.... Many, many rigourous major runners have done both. Just remember, "everything in moderation". You have the rest of your life to socialize and have fun. You will run your best at college age or shortly thereafter...

RUN!!!

I'm 46. I went to a D1 School. I ran a 29:52 10,000 my sophomore year. I quit the team at the beginning of my junior year due to a number of factors, among them a personal tragedy (girlfriend's death) and I felt my coach didn't know very much about running (he was fat and said a lot of insensitive things and didn't care about us personally). I was emotionally messed up from the tragedy and a long way from home (1,500 miles). I could have benefitted from a mentor.

When I quit the team I never looked back. I was a music major and the extra time to practice was valuable. I couldn't stand the coach anymore but continued to run on my own, even up to now. I ran 70 miles per week through college after I quit, but never raced again.

For years and years it never bothered me that I quit, but for the last year or so it has been nagging at me, "How good could I have been?" I guess I will never know. Sometimes it gets to me a little. I see runners enjoying success, and I would really have liked to have gotten an All American certificate.

My whole college career was unsatisfying, and I had trouble with the director of my academic program. He had a drug problem and was an inconsistent, unpredictable person, and mean as hell (he went to jail twice for impaired driving during my time there). I had good friends socially, but my academic memories are not very good, and coupled with my running memories--not much to reminisce warmly about from my collegiate career (however, I did win 2 dual meet races).

I have a good wife and family now and an excellent career and I make a good living. Part of me still yearns for the experience of being in a group of runners doing a workout on the trails and being young and part of a group. Plus, the internet connects runners today. In my day, it was very difficult to find out about other runners, how they were running or even what they looked like so I could recognize them at big meets. Only the really famous runners (Craig Virgin, Mary Decker, Henry Rono, Al Salazar) got much press then.

This is my advice: Make sure your collegiate program is a good fit for you. Make sure the academic program is right first. If your major is petroleum engineering, understand why you are going to your particular school over another school. Know going in what your opportunities will be. Then make sure the coach, his philosophy, how he deals with people is a good fit as well.

I didn't have that good of a fit (went to the wrong school for both academics and running), but there was so much to know and understand going in that I was unaware of. No one in my family went to college before me, so I never got good advice. As a freshman I didn't even see an academic advisor to make sure I was taking the right classes. There are safeguards now to prevent that from happening, but back then I was really clueless. I was an A student with a pretty high SAT score, but I was still very naive and I made a lot of mistakes. Some of the mistakes were painful, and some of them were expensive.

Now I'm trying to grow old gracefully, stay fit, and I hope I never want to retire. I run a 40 minute 10K. I am a competent musician, but nothing is more fun than being on a trail in the middle of the woods, enjoying every step.

Go to college. I don't think anyone has ever regretted that decision. Even if you don't end up in the field you are studying, the college experience will change you for the better. If you are considering walking on to a team, you really have nothing to lose. Try it and if it is not for you then you can always just run on your own. I was a walk-on for a very good D1 team for two and a half years until I recently decided I had to quit because I was constantly injured and was unable to take the time necessary to heal. The only thing I regret is not allowing myself to heal completely the first time which only prolonged the problem. Then maybe I would have come back healthy and would have been able to stay on the team and compete. I do miss running on the team. I've made some good friends and improved (until the injury) and learned a lot more than I would have training on my own. That is why I am telling you to at least give it a try.

I guess I worded it poorly, but i've always planned on going to college, this was never in question...

Thanks for the feedback so far.

If I were 18 again, I think I would join the Peace Corps and try to go to South America (second choice: Africa). You do so much growing up that first year of school, I believe being so far away from home and all that goes with being in the Peace Corps would force me to grow up a little, I'd become fluent in Spanish, and go to college on the GI bill when I got out.

The usual stint is 30 months, I think, so I'd start college as a 21-year-old freshman. Henry Rono was a 24-year-old freshman and it didn't seem to hurt him any.

Being in the Peace Corps means you've served your country, so you're afforded the same respect that comes with being in the Marines or the Army. The GI bill also wouldn't hurt. I'm sure I'd be full of stories to tell my kids, and the experience would be invaluable.

I just think I'd have a more savory college experience if I did the PC first, did some maturing, then went to college older, wiser, and a stronger runner.

What kept me from doing this when I was 18 was the thought in my head that I had to get on with my life. I thought I had to graduate and be making money by age 22 or I would be a failure. In reality, most of your 20's should be dedicated to education because you usually don't get the chance to dedicate yourself to it once you get past 30 (spouse, kids, career, mortgage). There really was no hurry for me, but I didn't realize it at the time. I was on other people's time clocks as to what expectactions I should meet.

If I could do it over as a h.s. senior, that's what I'd do.