Good Places for Post-Collegiate Running

Oh yeh! Longhorns rule! Can't beat the weather and running community either.

Not to put words in the Hansons' mouths, but I recall a post from them long ago saying that they would take women, just that none had applied. There may be reasons for that, but it wasn't because they limited themselves to guys.

One off the wall suggestion, since the original poster seems to care about the quality of schools in the area: Vanderbilt, if you could get coached by Jim Spivey (he's the women's XC coach). He seems to be bringing that program up to a decent level. Don't know about groups of women to train with there, though. You'd have to ask him if he's willing to train outsiders, though.

Longhorn wrote:

Oh yeh! Longhorns rule! Can't beat the weather and running community either.

Austin is great - I lived there for a year and a half, but I had to move from there because my allergies were so bad! I didn't have allergies before I moved there - Austin just has incredibly high pollen counts and I was constantly sick because of it.

Darn, at least you gave us a try. Good luck on finding the right set up, conditions, environment, and coach!

There is a soild group women runners in Atlanta. Most of them are coach by a local coach. Check his web-site out at

www.advancedrunning.com

San Diego is a fantastic place to run, what are you looking for in terms 'competitive post collegiates'? What will your focus be?

Have you thought about San Francisco State??? USF??? Cal perhaps, or going back to Stanford? ;-)

Back to School--

Ann Arbor is a pretty good place to train, I'm not totally sure who is left at U of M that has graduated and is still training. East Lansing is less than an hour away, we have 2 sub 34 min 10Ker's at MSU, and 2 other All-

American distance girls on the squad. Coach Stintzi is pretty laid back and theres a good chance he would let you train with the womens team. K. baker is here (2:14 Chicago, 28:34 10K), he may help you out too, he is pretty much self-coached and helps out with the MSU team(s). McGuire at U of M and Stintzi at MSU are both very approachable, it's worth a shot if you are planning on going to school in the Midwest.

Sorry but Stintzi only cares about you if you're his #1 runner or are running world records otherwise forget it.

You guys are nuts. Austin? Gainesville? Don't bother going to either of those places in the summer. Or the spring for that matter.

I did undergrad in Gainesville and all the runs we did were boring and about 80% road (and that's being generous). There's a couple trails, but you get tired of the same old real quick. It's cool for a college town if you like to hang out at parties and what not, but not much to do otherwise.

As for Austin, towne lake and the greenbelt are the olny places that aren't paved, and even part of TL is. Yeah, it's a pretty cool place to live, but not to run. They do have easily the best Running Store as far as community involvement in RunTex though - first class business, and everyone associated with the company is great.

~mike

Try the Farm Team.

I have a friend who ran with them for a while.

He had a good experience and got a ton of free gear.

For indivudal training, if you want the name of a great coach in that area, let me know.

What's wrong with 90+ degree heat and 100% humidity??? That will definately grow hair on your chest. I don't know about you or the person that started this post, but despite the heat there, I would just barely be willing to endure the heat than running where it's sub zero for 4-6 months out of the year. If she doesn't mind the frozen tundra up east or north then she should go there. But Gainesville is a good place with good people. The only thing you really have to worry about is having your bike stolen and the occasional alligator that shows up on campus or near Paines Praire. Other than that, it's all good.

well there are places that aren't 90+ and 100% humidity or below zero. Ever heard of California? Arizona?

Oh, don't fall in the Jungle. Ask the cross fellas if you don't know the history.

~mike

You are right Hanson's are starting a womens program as well. I think they are just waiting for a woman that is distance oriented (over 80 mpw) to get things started. Free housing, Free equipment, Free Coaching, Free Health Insurance, Team Dr, Team PT, Free Travel, miles and miles of dirt roads and trails. It is the only program that takes care of everything. Several colleges are within an hour (michigan, detroit mercy, oakland,wayne state, eastern michigan). If you are not mileage oriented don't waste your time. Contact Kevin or Keith at Hansons-running.com.

Albert wrote:

I would just barely be willing to endure the heat than running where it's sub zero for 4-6 months out of the year.

Where ever that is (where is that?) it would put infinitely more hair on that puny fleshy chest of yours.

SD Fan wrote:

San Diego is a fantastic place to run, what are you looking for in terms 'competitive post collegiates'? What will your focus be?

I'm not completely sure right now - maybe roads (nothing over 10k for now), with some track and cross thrown in there. I hear the SD track scene is somewhat 'weak'. Any elite women out there? I'm looking to train with a good group that is at least somewhat serious (i.e. looking to qualify for Trials, etc).

I may stay in the Bay Area, and I know about the Farm Team. They have a great group of women there and Gags - a great coach.