Ah, the usual d3 bashing in the d3 threads! As someone who graduated college a while ago and am no longer caught up in the small little world that is distance running, I want to chime in. I promise you no one cares either way whether you are/were a d1 or d3 track athlete. And they don't care about your times either, even if they are pretty good. So don't get so uptight about all this. You should all really be nice to each other, as you all are the only ones who care even a little about each others efforts.
Now, I got a feeling most people who come on here to bash d3 are pretty good d1 runners, but not quite good enough to make a dent at that level, and are a little jealous of d3 guys getting some attention when they are just as fast or faster. 16 flat guys can't bash d3 guys because they are pretty much average at that level, while sub 14 guys probably don't care at all what's going on in d3, but boy, those 1415-1445 d1 guys, those 405-410 milers, that's a tough place to be! They look at d3 guys with similar times and see them getting some attention, all american awards, website write ups and man, shouldn't they be getting some of that? They are just as good! So a lot of them are frustrated about it, maybe feeling a little insecure about it. Don't. You are totally right, no one cares. But it has nothing to do with being d1 or d3 or running this time or that, it's just that no one cares about all this running stuff in general.
See, there are no fans of running other than people who are or were directly involved in the sport. It's cool that you run in the big boy nationals or big boy conference meets, but really no one cares about that any more than they care (or don't) about the baby nationals and baby conference meets. The only people watching your big boy meets are the ones directly involved in the program/s, your parents and sister (probably won't, but will say she did) and maybe, if they aren't busy, OTHER RUNNERS. you know, the same ones you're bashing here. There is no one else who cares. Vegas isn't taking bets on the big ten 3k championship race, No one will be standing around the water cooler on Monday morning talking about that move made on the 6th lap. There will be no round table discussions on ESPN about if Wisconsin has enough depth to pull off the win, there will be no tickets sold on stubhub and you won't sell out hundred thousand seat stadiums. They will probably let everyone in for free. There will be no billion dollar TV contracts and no CBS features and no office pools. No one will nervously ask for a selfie with the 3k champ and then ask them to sign their arm. The reason is that, when it comes down to it, nobody cares about you or your stupid little track meet, big boy or not. And coming on here to bash d3 guys certainly isn't going to make anyone care more about it. Shoot, they probably make up half the audience tuning in on flotrack. (The other half if your parents)
And I got news for you, it's mostly the same in your day to day life too. When you take your Wednesday flight for your big time meet and that person on the plane asks you all about where youre going and seems interested when you tell them about your running, guess what? They don't really care, theyre just making conversation. The reason they asked if you're going to the olympics because you can run a 1420 5k isn't because you are this great runner worthy of praise, it's because they don't know what they are talking about. And no, just because you gave them the website to look up results doesnt mean they are going to do it. They are not.
That cute girl you like, you know, the one in all your mechanical engineering courses? yeah, she doesnt care whether you run 1340, 1440 or 1550. She thinks you're kind of cool, but you talk about running a little too much and maybe if you quit that and added ten pounds of muscle, she'd consider dating you.
That's not to say athletic prowess isn't attractive, just that it's only attractive in real sports. If you were a big time football or basketball star, wowing the crowds of thousands of people in nationally televised games every week, that could mean something. But that's not what you do. What you doesn't really seem athletic to most people, it looks something like a sped up fashion show for anorexic boys.
Anyway, getting off track a little. Just stop being insecure about all this and try encouraging/acting friendly to the very few people who care about your sport.