How did you like D3?

fun as hell. if the program is decent, you'll be on a team with a guys both above and below your level of talent. seeing the guys who are not world-beaters but LOVE running show up to practice and bust a** every day was awesome. kept everyone on my team from the #1 guy to the #25 guy motivated and focused on doing their best each day. the comaraderie was great. roadtrips were a blast. so many friendships made. i was lucky enough to be part of a top 7 that got on the podium at nats & thought the regional and national meets were really well run. still miss meeting the guys for practice at 4pm, great times.

it was also motivating to see so many people on the team take their schoolwork seriously, kept me from slacking off and strive to maintain a good running/academics balance.

Take a look at Haverford. There's no better situation for that running/academics balance you want.

Don't run in college. You'll thank me when you're 30 and have a great career and are a productive member of society while your friends are still living out their adolescent fantasies and chasing the next big PR.

wpqroisdvnskdfs wrote:

Take a look at Haverford. There's no better situation for that running/academics balance you want.

Wow, I'm sure they're the only college sport that's ever claimed that........

I loved D3 but then again I wasn't good enough for the others. I'd say it's better to be in a good D3 than a shit D1 program.

listen up wrote:

Don't run in college. You'll thank me when you're 30 and have a great career and are a productive member of society while your friends are still living out their adolescent fantasies and chasing the next big PR.

Where did you go to school?

really enjoyed it. We beat a lot of D1 teams in xc. Usually not top teams like Oregon, but some pretty decent teams. We had some not so talented guys who put in big mileage and improved a lot. Our coach tried to keep it as fun as possible. Lots of running on trails a short drive away. We travelled overnight to meets a couple times a season probably, more often in track than xc, but never flew to stanford or Oregon or anything like that to chase times, it wouldn't be in the budget I guess. Didn't get free shoes or a wardrobe from a shoe company either, just uniforms. In summary, D3 is no less competitive than other divisions save for very top runners who are insured to go pro after college.

D3 is the place to be

listen up wrote:

Don't run in college. You'll thank me when you're 30 and have a great career and are a productive member of society while your friends are still living out their adolescent fantasies and chasing the next big PR.

You can actually do both of these things, and a good D3 school can help you learn the balance to keep training (if that's something you want to do) and put in the work necessary to have a good and productive career.

listen up wrote:

Don't run in college. You'll thank me when you're 30 and have a great career and are a productive member of society while your friends are still living out their adolescent fantasies and chasing the next big PR.

Can't you do more than 1 thing at a time? Having a great career requires that. I ran D3 at one of the UAA schools (great great academic institutions all). Our team GPA was above 3.5. Guys on my team became Drs, lawyers, businessmen and other successful professionals. We all make more money than you.