As runners, most of us have seen these TikToks and Instagram reels. The running influencer peppily talks to the camera mid-run, barely sweating. Get-ready-with-me videos display cute running fits. Training videos list workout splits that are unrealistic for most of us. Many of these content creators make running look easy, all the time— failed long runs or workouts, less-aesthetic sweatiness, cramps and stomach issues, and the general ups and downs that come with the sport don’t usually make it onto the feed.

Amalia Dorion, scrolling through TikTok, kept coming across this kind of content from seemingly perfect, high-profile elite runners. Dorion, a collegiate runner at Adams State and now a D3 graduate athlete at Suffolk University, knew that any semblance of effortless perfection in running wasn’t real. She wondered what it would look like if more collegiate athletes started posting the true realities of training and balancing the sport with school and work.

“And I thought, okay, I'm gonna share how gruesome it can be sometimes, just be totally honest, and also how rewarding it can be. And then I just started posting every day, at least one TikTok every single day. And I don't know how, but I caught on.”

Dorion is one of several D3 runners that regularly creates content around their collegiate experience and has built a serious following on TikTok and other social media platforms. Becoming a “running influencer” and making an income off of sponsors and partnerships has typically been something that only top D1 runners or professional athletes do.

Before NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) was enacted in 2021, D3 athletes were not able to make money off of their status as athletes due to their amateur classification. For instance, Kylie Oblak from Hamilton, who runs an Instagram account with over 9,000 followers, had to stop earning money off of her Instagram page in her first semester of college after making a modest profit with the platform in high school.

Nevertheless, as it turns out, from high schoolers hoping to make a college team to the casual jogger, the scrolling-runner audience is interested in the experience that D3 athletes have to share.

Dorion felt far from the typical super-successful running content creator, but wanted to share her experience perhaps in spite of that, to offer up a different perspective.

“I wasn't the fastest on my high school team. I never went to a state cross country or track meet. I've never made it to Nationals. I've been really close. I was the first person out, like, three times. I haven't done anything insane, but at the same time, I've improved so much and really enjoy sharing it,” Dorion said.

I asked Dorion if content creation almost feels like a second job, in between doubles and team lifts and graduate-level school work.

“Honestly, it doesn't take up that much time. I'm not necessarily super aesthetic with it. I kind of just make it and throw it up and hope for the best. But I think people really appreciate that. People have commented, ‘I really like your content, because it feels like we're on FaceTime, and it feels so real and truthful.’ And, well, maybe it's partially because I'm a little bit lazy,” Dorion laughed.

After a beat, she added, “I mean, I make some money off of it, so it is a job, but I don't feel like it's an actual job.”

When it comes to the few sponsorships Dorion has picked up, she’s made sure to stay away from the over-consumptionist content that influencers often post. Too much running content, she said, comes across as an ad and can feel less genuine.

“That kind of goes against my whole morals of doing this. I don't want to be promoting something that I wouldn't buy myself, or make people feel like they need something that they don't need.”

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Unlike Dorion, who started creating content as a junior in college, Morgan Uhlhorn launched her podcast and Instagram page as a junior in high school. One of her closest friends and teammates, Angelina Perez, had started a running account on Instagram, and Uhlhorn admired the uplifting content that she posted.

“And then I thought, you know what? You only live once. Why am I not making one?”

Thus, her Instagram page “Balance by Morgan” and her running podcast, “The Mile You’re In” (a title accredited to her dad!) were born. The earliest podcast episodes from 2022 almost sound like audio diary entries: “My Running Story!”, “It’s Been a Minute: Life Update + Q&A”. Just a few weeks in, Uhlhorn began inviting guests onto the show, from her fellow high school teammates to well-known running influencers. Her audience grew, and then even more so when she graduated from high school and was recruited to the D3 program at NYU.

Today, Uhlhorn still uploads a podcast episode almost weekly. Her content features running and nutrition advice (as a nutrition major at NYU!), small ambassadorships, and generally what life as a D3 collegiate athlete looks like. It might be a little more difficult to find the extra five or six hours a week that she spends on podcast editing and creating posts than back in high school, but she values the connections that she continues to make through the platform.

“Now, I get to go to meets and say, ‘I’m going to see so and so from this school that I met through Balance by Morgan!’” Uhlhorn said. “I've met a lot of people that are pretty much my carbon copy and enjoy the exact same things as I do. It's so nice to meet a whole group of people that totally get it, and are putting as much time and energy into the sport as I am.”

Uhlhorn, like Dorion, believes that D3 runners have a unique perspective to share online that more casual or college-hopeful runners will find relatable and inspiring.

“Because the reality is, most people who go to college to run are not going to pursue this as a career unless you're like, Parker Valby, and that's okay. It doesn't mean you have to be any less passionate about the sport. And I think [D3 content] really also promotes that message of just letting your sport add to your life, rather than totally consume it,” Uhlhorn said.

As a content creator, Uhlhorn wants to challenge any stereotype that D3 runners are less dedicated to the sport as D1 athletes, while emphasizing the importance of balancing running with everything else in life.

“Just because you’re D3 doesn't mean that you're any less of a college athlete. I feel like people have this stereotype that unless you're D1, you don't work as hard, and that is not true,” Morgan emphasized. “I think D3 athletes with these platforms are really inspiring, because we have to work extra hard to get people to take us seriously. It just keeps me motivated.”

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Kylie Oblak, perhaps better known as Kylie Runs Smiley on Instagram and TikTok, graduated from the D3 NESCAC program at Hamilton College last spring and is now working as a financial consultant in New York City. In the midst of moving and major life changes, one thing that hasn’t changed post-graduation is Oblak’s well-loved running content online.

“If my life was all just Excel sheets and PowerPoints, I think I would not feel like myself,” Oblak laughed. “So I really like having a creative outlet, and it becomes something much more than just that. It's become a way to make friends. I actually met the two people I'm living with because of this platform.”

Like Uhlhorn, Oblak started her Instagram page, Kylie Runs Smiley, back when she was a junior in high school and launched her podcast, Staying Smiley, in 2023. After years of posting almost daily content, she can see how her social media presence has grown–– not just in reach and audience, but alongside her as a person and runner.

“The account has grown with me just in terms of who I am as a person, what my values are, what my life looks like. And I think something that I pride myself on the most with my account is that it's authentically me,” Oblak said. “You know, people who have met me after following my account tell me, ‘Wow, you're exactly like who you are online. And that's kind of refreshing and rare.’”

The shift from collegiate running to regular-working-person running is a very familiar transition to many of us. Oblak is training for the Philadelphia marathon next month while working ten to 11-hour shifts through the week. Her page features far more Central Park solo runs. Her daily content and running life look very different than in college, but Oblak has felt supported by her online community through it all.

“The other day, I posted something along the lines of, ‘anybody know how to find a good primary care doctor in New York City?’ I had probably 20-plus messages in my inbox within an hour saying, this is the system that you want to use, I've lived here for generations, my kids live here. I just feel incredibly taken care of,” Oblak said.

Oblak’s running career at Hamilton had its athletic highs and lows: she struggled with injury and a broken tibia bone that culminated in shin-rodding surgery. She stayed present on social media through the surgery and post-op process, using her page as a kind of online journal. Oblak believes that the surgery completely shifted her relationship to running, and wants to share her mindset with other runners.

“I genuinely have changed. I genuinely have a really positive approach to running, and I genuinely don't overdo or underdo certain things, but I'm actually faster and stronger than ever before,” Oblak said. “You kind of have to gaslight yourself into thinking, ‘If I take four days off of training, I'm going to be okay.’ You have to make yourself really believe it. But then once you face and overcome that fear, then you're set free, right?”

Oblak continually expressed gratitude for the community that she has made online, which bleeds into the real world more often than one might expect.

“Probably like three to four times a week when I'm running in the park, somebody will stop me and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I've been following you on Instagram. Have a good day at work today.’ The running community is so niche, as we all know. People know people.”