XC team is a frat, is there a community after?

You are all on your own after college. All by yourself.

I hear there's always a big group of serious runners looking for a good run in Kenya.

Here in America its commute, "work", commute, TV, bed, repeat.

Look hard enough and be vigilant enough and you can find them. Oftentimes they'll near the top of the podium in local races

All the lonely people wrote:

My college XC team has the potential to be a great team and has proven time and again the culture is closer to a frat than a team interested in running. This isn't an issue of expecting a team never to party or drink but rather having no running ambition and an overall culture. My question is how to find good and committed runners to train/interact with after college. People at least interested in putting an effort into running, where do you find them?

If the entire team wants to party and drink more than run, they don't have the potential to be great. And you picked a bad team to attempt to be great on.

Probably because they all realize they can't be great and would rather balance having some fun with running. You will have much less fun and be a slightly better runner, and 15 years after you graduate they'll have better memories of college and nobody will give a crap about your running career.

dude speak for yourself.....I care about his running career. In fact just the other day I was trying to Google how he did in his opening meet but I forgot how to spell 'Whogivesafuq'

All the lonely people wrote:

My college XC team has the potential to be a great team and has proven time and again the culture is closer to a frat than a team interested in running. This isn't an issue of expecting a team never to party or drink but rather having no running ambition and an overall culture. My question is how to find good and committed runners to train/interact with after college. People at least interested in putting an effort into running, where do you find them?

mud runs

I've had no problem finding runners anywhere in the USA. You can find local running clubs that are halfway decent. All it really takes, though, is to show up to a few races and identify some peers you might want to hang out with. You'd have to be a real introvert to not meet people you might want to run with as an adult. Just keep showing up to races.

I had a blast in college, drank before, after and during meets. Ran four years and was only was arrested a few times. Fun times but I have a better crew now - guys who train hard & take running pretty seriously but have a good balance to everything. To echo others on his thread, they are out there, just find them.

John utah wrote:

You are all on your own after college. All by yourself.

Pretty much. Sooner or later, you realize that no one cares about your running but you. Take ownership. If you want to be as good as you can be, put in the work yourself and don't expect anyone to go with you.

This is true in college, but becomes even more true after graduation day.

Shoebacca wrote:

I've had no problem finding runners anywhere in the USA. You can find local running clubs that are halfway decent. All it really takes, though, is to show up to a few races and identify some peers you might want to hang out with. You'd have to be a real introvert to not meet people you might want to run with as an adult. Just keep showing up to races.

I have lots of running friends, but I only see them at races. None of us live in the same neighborhood, and we all have jobs, families, and other responsibilities, so getting together to train isn't practical. The reality for most post-scholastic runners who work full time is that the majority of your training is done alone.

Instagram and Strava. Seriously. There are a lot of hobby joggers on there, but I also know of serious runners who have met on there too. Start putting your training out there, and not only will you find others, but they'll find you too.

Also, there's nothing like a team environment. If your team had really quit they wouldn't be on the team. They're just waiting for someone to wake them up. Be that person, train hard, get some results, give them compliments or some kind of morale boost, and go out for an occasional drink with them but not all the time.

But just don't be like Cyclops in X-men. Nobody likes a Cyclops.

Go train in a small, heavily LDS city in Utah.

My best memories of college nearly all have to do with the experiences I had as a runner and of being so much faster by the end than I was at the beginning. I cannot imagine that the memories would be better if they were mostly about parties, drinking, etc,, but that's just me. The point being that none of us can really decide what a "better" memory is for someone other than himself. And fifteen years after anyone graduates no one other than one's self gives a crap about college memories whether they involve running, parties, or much of anything else.

Consider a transfer?

Look up the USATF club cross country results and move to an area with one of those teams. I moved to DC, and the Georgetown Running Club is awesome.

Strava.

When I moved to a new area I found some good runners by planning routes to run and seeing which names came up on the leaderboard for different segments. I then just comment on their run and make contact. One of my key training partners I met that way.

Also had a guy who was following me notice that I was now running in his neighborhood and said, "Let's run!" Now one of my best friends.

Strava is great way of finding serious runners locally.

Dane Rauschenberg@SeeDaneRun wrote:

Great Lakes Relay.

Yes

Hobby Logger wrote:

Dane Rauschenberg@SeeDaneRun wrote:

Great Lakes Relay.

Yes

I third the Great Lakes Relay.

HRE wrote:

My best memories of college nearly all have to do with the experiences I had as a runner and of being so much faster by the end than I was at the beginning. I cannot imagine that the memories would be better if they were mostly about parties, drinking, etc,, but that's just me. The point being that none of us can really decide what a "better" memory is for someone other than himself. And fifteen years after anyone graduates no one other than one's self gives a crap about college memories whether they involve running, parties, or much of anything else.

Thanks nerd.