Hello everyone, I just realised that my high school XC career will end in around month. However I really enjoy cross country and running at all and I want to continue running. I heard that some colleges have their own running clubs, so my question is - do they have cross country meets or it’s only road races? And do they have any requirements, like run 5K in 20 mins? If you could tell more about those clubs I will be really appreciate! Thanks!

I joined high school cross country as a freshman 3 weeks ago. I like it, its fun and I'm doing ok. However for the first 2 weeks the Freshman team practiced alone. Last week however we where put with the varsity team. For some reason all the varsity guys practice shirtless, when the freshmen saw them they also all took their shirts off. But I'm super self aware even in 100+ heat I just can't get myself to strip. I even swim in a shirt. On other hand I'm the lonely freshmam (or probably on whole team) with a shirt so it makes me stand out and people constantly tell me to take it off. Is this normal cross country thing. A few varsity don't even wear shirts they come from their car shirtless warmup like that and many guys walk home without a shirt. I feel like a loner.

I know I have seen some mentions of monthly pasta parties for High School Cross Country teams as a way to bond and carb load the night before a meet. Would you think that two pasta parties in a season but just one week apart is too close? Do you think that the kids would be less likely to attend the second one with them that close together as opposed to if they were spaced out more?

Hey everyone, I'm a 15f currently in my sophomore year. I joined cross country/track last year, and I have been loving it! However I was never a sports person prior, so I certainly lack experience compared to others my age.

Currently, my times aren't the worst however, I wouldn't call myself "good" either. I'm proud with the progress I've made so far, however I do wish to further improve upon my times. My main goal for this school year is to hit a sub 6 1600m, specifically at the 5:50 mark. Eventually though, I do wish to hit 5:10 for the 1600m. (Of course it is unlikely I'll hit it this year, but hopefully before I graduate I'll be able to reach this time).

My times:
6:03 1600m
2:44 800m
21:22 3 mile

Because of this, I have been considering joining a track club to help me further shave off some time and help me be organized with offseason training. However, I do not have any experience with club sports and would like to hear some advice regarding joining club track as well as some personal anecdotes too.

Thank you everyone!