Any former college runners on here?

I doubt there is a single template for getting back into running. I fell back into it. I had a 2 year old weimaraner. She was crazier at the time (a rescue) and long hikes were the only way to wear her down. Hikes became run / hikes and after about 9 months I was running 3 to 4 times a week 3 or so miles at a time with longer runs on the weekend. Pounds started dropping. There was no driving goal or method to the runs and they were still designed around getting out with my dog. The weight lose was certainly great and I was feeling better so that created a virtuous cycle. After about 6 to 9 months running without direction, it lead to joining a running group.

Depending on your personality, you may fun running groups very valuable. I find that I am more externally motivated than internally motivated. I can’t just pick a goal like ‘run a marathon’ and just do it. I always find reasons to slough off the work. A running group really helps me for this reason. It channels my training forward. The guy I run with also puts on many races so there is natural cycle of running and races built in.

Running now is also very divorced from my school days in terms of workouts and types of runs. It is a completely different activity. I competed long sprints and hurdles, now I run trail ultras. If the roads are not lighting that flame, then try the trails. Or triathlons, or mountain races, or ? Point is, it may be worth checking out a distance, terrain, or speed goal completely unrelated to your prior running experience.

The TL;DR version: the motivation for running now is going to be different than it was in school, find a new type of running that is interesting to you, join a group.

I ran in college and also graduated in 2008. I have been able to keep running. Yet for a period, I seemed to have lost the basics of what I learned running on a team (warm up, speed work, etc). Two big time injuries caused me to seek out some training partners. My times in races 10k and below have been poor, but I’ve run some decent 1/2 marathons and more recently a pretty solid 30k. Basically I don’t need structure to go for a run, but I do need it to run properly.