The best way to keep to a running program is to get in with a group of runners who run regularly. The best place to meet runners is to go where a lot of runners meet. In State College, that would be Recreation (Rec) Hall. The old gymnasium at the corner of Curtin Road and Burrowes Street on the Penn State campus is a popular place for both campus and off-campus runners to begin their runs.

Runners usually meet outside the main entrance to the gym on the corner of Burrowes and Curtin Roads on campus.  The people who come at noontime are the "Rec Hall Regulars". On any weekday, from 5 to a dozen or more of the regulars head out for a 4 to 6 mile run on one of the many routes on and around campus. The pace varies with the conditions and who shows up. The affable group includes Penn Staters, people on a lunch break from their off-campus jobs, students, and even retirees and moms who jog to Rec Hall from home just to run with the gang. You can meet Nittany Valley Running Club members, parolees from the Thursday Track Crew , and other interesting sorts. Stop by! The runners take off at about 12:10. 

Note: Rec Hall is no longer an "open facility", so people who haven't paid the Rec Hall membership fee can meet the group on the patio area outside Rec Hall on Curtin and Burrowes.

Summer Hours For Rec Hall Regulars: Due to the new limited hours of Rec Hall during the academic summer (from the first week of May through the start of the Fall semester, around the last week of August), Rec Hall Regulars leave Rec Hall by 12 Noon sharp.