Meet People and Make Friends

(You run, they run. What more do you need?)

My high school team had its share of people who would have rather not run at all, and they made their gripes known to everyone else. Maybe none of the other North Carolna high school teams have complainers, but I for one found it very refreshing to join a team where every member actually wanted to run. I can definitely say that running shirtless in 30^o weather with others makes it easy to build frienships (and character).

In all seriousness, in college you meet about 200 people in the first week. Some of them will become good friends, but most will become aquantinces with whom you exchange cordial greetings every now and then. The easiest way to make these good friends is to be around people with whom you share common interests and hobbies (like running). All of the runs and races and post-run meals have been the basis of friendships that I look forward to keeping for the rest of my life.

However, runners can only run for so long. They have to do something else at some point. Every running club that I know of hosts a number of non-running activities. These events include Halloween parties and end-of-the-year semi-formals, but some of them involve rolling down giant hills and playing putt-putt (because who doesn't want to roll down hills and play putt-putt?). Needless to say, these excursions away from the lectures and studying of school life have been refreshing.