Did guys on your college team keep running post college?

About the same ratio, went to a D1 school ranked in the teens when I was there 15 years ago. Of the XC team, there are only a few of us that still run at all, and I am the only one that still runs semi-competitively (as in, runs actual races, has structured workouts, has a coach, etc). I don't think any of the girls still run, and I only remember one girl running after college... she was doing something where she was running 24h races and ultras for charity. I haven't kept up with what she's doing now. A couple of them teach and coach at the high school or middle school level, but don't run. The vast majority of the team stopped, gained a ton of weight (or started weightlifting / being a normal gym rat instead), and a few tried to start again, but never really recommitted and got injured or just stopped trying.

Went to a top ranked DII school (which doesn’t amount to much based on posters here), but only myself and one or two other teammates are still running and competing 20 years later. Many continued to run a few years after, but now pursue other things. That is just regarding the guys I ran with. There are a few alums that are still going both older and younger than myself .

Oh and my wife is still very competitive and graduated the year after I did.

Went to a d3 school...same league as Bill Rodgers Joanie Amby...

Think I’m the only one going...

Most of the guys gave up 35 years ago

Me I’m still rolling

Fing p@ssies

Went to Bucknell. Lots of guys and girls still running post college many years later. Usually someone has made the marathon trials each cycle. We’ve had teams do many relays races like hood to coast and some on east coast. Maybe it was lack of scholarships for most so people always did it because they loved the sport.

Went to top 20 D3 XC school. Dozens of guys still running. Ironman triathletes, boston qualifiers, and lots of high school XC/Track coaches. I further believe D1 ruins the sport of XC/Track for long term joy of running. Our team had guys get better after college (as they developed more) and did different things in their late 20s/30s.

Here is a great forum question:

Best top 5 alumni team of athletes age 30+. Best is hard to measure (marathon, 5k, other sports), but could be fun to debate.

Graduated 11 years ago. A bunch of guys seemed to abruptly stop running around 2012-2013 for whatever reason (careers/family/etc.).

Only a few regularly run and race today. Two guys are super heavy into triathlon, doing the long course stuff like Kona.

Must don’t

It’s because at that level they all thought coming in they were Olympic material. However, college plays out and most are at best 14 minute 5kers so they moved on with their lives.

Running is all consuming and painful so why not pursue actual fun stuff in your 20s.

Because then the 30s come and the focus is on actual important stuff like family and careers.

I went to a BIG TEN school, graduated in the late 90's. Several continued as professionals and 3 made Olympic and World Championship teams. I still put in about 30 mpw

still running wrote:

I ran at a D1 power 5 school about 10 years ago. Of the other guys that were on the cross country team only one of them besides me is still running. One other guy spent a few years trying to make the olympic trials but gave up after a few marathons. Most guys on the team never ran another step after their last meet. Is this typical for your college team?

Yes, your experience is typical. From my old college team two decades ago, only two of us still run and race, and we're both hobby runners/joggers.

Oh, and my old teammate that still runs and races - he took a 10 plus year hiatus, got fat, and started again. He's now a solid local masters runner.

The rest of my old teammates are done with it entirely. One guy kind of gave running a serious go for a few years, but quickly quit. A few others got into crossfit type stuff. Most don't exercise at all.

It's typical; at local races in my area, young adults are virtually absent. They are dominated by high schoolers and masters. The post collegians are a no show.

Rolling with the one they call easy wrote:

Went to a d3 school...same league as Bill Rodgers Joanie Amby...

Think I’m the only one going...

Most of the guys gave up 35 years ago

Me I’m still rolling

Fing p@ssies

Similar and still at it.

d3, academically in similar league as above, in the strongest XC region.

Of the 12-15 principal distance and mid-d runners from that era (spanning 4 years)

mmm, maybe 3-4 kept it up consistently for more than a few years.

The most talented did not keep going, it was those in the 4th-10th range. Now decades later, I think the same 3 are at it. A couple have dabbled here and there, e.g., attempting a sub 3 marathon at 40 or something like that but then they drop off again.

Yep, most people drop out after college. It is a time thing. You think you are busy until you get married and have kids. That really knocks a ton of your free time out. Maybe you go for a run on weekends only but that is about it. Then the kids get older, you get more free time and you start training again. Its why you see a bump in competition around that 40's to 50's age range. People getting back into competition. Some of those people you know who quit may come back later in life. Most wont.

I ran D2 in the 1980s. We had a guy on the team freshman year who was our worst runner, and he was bad enough that he came in very last place in the few meets that he was in. He wasn't out for the team after that, and was a serious student, and also wrote for the school paper. Since graduation he has worked for one company (I think) and has run regularly since.

He has run literally thousands of races since, and he got a little better. Like, I think the best road 10K that I ever saw from him was 34 minutes or so, which would have been around mid-pack at a lot of our meets. I don't know for sure but he probably didn't train on his own at all during the season he ran cross country with us. I'm Facebook friends with him and he runs races almost every weekend of the year, sometime weekends with multiple races.

To the extent that I've been able to keep track over the years, it seem like the guys who kept running were like him. That is, not the best runners, even from our mediocre team, and guys who weren't that good in high school. I probably fit that category, too. I ran regularly for 6 or 7 years after college, but usually didn't do as much mileage.

graduated from a D3 school 10 years ago, I believe I am the only person in my year still running actively (with a club, aiming for races, etc.) -- though I'm sure a few from both teams are still running charity 5ks or what not.

Then again, almost no one from my HS XC team is still at it.

One way to slice it is that people grow and change and they don't always enjoy the same things they used to.

Another is that college athletics are misguided and should instead be about instilling lifelong healthy habits, and what they're doing now is too self-serious and too irrelevant to be worth carrying over.

Went to a D1 school a long time ago. Most of my former teammates are big fat guys now.

I ran at a solid D3 college in the Midwest, we have 30-40+ recent graduates(last ten years) still going strong with multiple marathon trials qualifiers for 2020. Most joined local clubs and stuck together.

Yep - the guys most likely to keep racing at a hobby level are the mid to back of the packers. That's certainly true in my case. I was a mid packer on my best day.

The runners who had success in college to whatever degree almost never continue in the sport. They've scratched the itch, so to speak. Been there, done that.

Guys like me, who were horrible in college, are more likely to still feel we have something to prove. After school, I set several stretch goals that I also failed to meet, so now as a master, I'm still racing almost weekly.

The earlier you reach your big goal, the sooner the fire goes out.

most guys still run from my college team. however, only a few guys still train. too many responsibilities

This is an interesting question.

I've had this theory for years that runners from D3 schools would be more likely to keep running after school as they might be in it more for the "joy" of running, and more of them would likely feel like they didn't peak in college compared to D1 schools (I definitely feel into this category with a lot of "what if" questions after college). But in my experience from my mid-upper tier D3 school, the vast majority of guys don't keep running much. A lot of guys on my team from my era (1999-2003) ran a bit over the years, and many have done other things (racing bikes, triathlons, biking across the US, etc.), but very few of them have kept up any consistent running and few are still trying to do much amateur racing. We had a couple of guys racing as professional triathletes for 5 years after, but a lot of guys seem to just not have gotten bit with the running the bug long term.

Makes the alumni run on reunion weekend a little bit of a downer.....

But I will say that way more guys run post collegially compare to swimmers who still swim post collegially (and I can't blame them, staring at the black line of a pool for hours a week gets pretty old fast).

And if you look at it from a different angle, very few of the older guys I know do easy runs with ran in college (or even high school), a lot of them got into it later in life. As someone posted above the time drain can be rough as a middle age adult with kids. I'm glad I have a wife who knows how important it is to me, so is willing to cut me some slack and let me run more than most would. That and the jogging stroller is a life saver.

I ran at a DI school. It all depends on the individual. There were some who ran their last race, took off spikes and never ran again. There are others who still run today, 20+ years later.