In response to the pandemic, the 2020 Woodbridge Invitational went virtual–challenging schools across the country to run 3 miles and match times. The organizers probably thought, “this is the worst that can happen”, and then 2020 said “oh really? Just try me!” and followed up with September wildfires that effected the air quality across the West Coast for weeks. Haven’t we had enough challenges? Yes, the Woodbridge race was delayed again.
However, the thing is…MVXC has a lot of tough, resilient, determined and-yes, gritty!-athletes. And on Saturday morning, September 26, a group of Monta Vista athletes rose to great the sunrise and compete in the Woodbridge Trample The Virus virtual meet.
The competition was three miles on the track. First to toe the line were two basketball athletes, Sophia Chen and Jasmine Varma, who simply wanted to test themselves with a long distance run. Sophia and Jasmine ran credible times of 23:40–under 8 minutes per mile!– and 28:09, impressive marks with their only training for the race at basketball conditioning practice. With a little bit of running, these two will really be able to show something. What is clear about Sophia and Jasmine is that they are up for a challenge! That kind of competitive instinct will take them far in basketball, running and life.
Next up was Coach Johnson/Coach Curtis’ cohort, with Sylvana Northrop, Ellie Hsu and Vivian Lau at the start. Syl fired out a blazing 18:06–an impressive time, seven months after our last race–with Ellie recording a solid 20:49. Coach Becca’s cohort was next and featured Sydney Stevens, Margaux Francouer and Megan Nieh on the track. Sydney showed her experience with a perfectly paced race and took Margaux steadily through the first six laps in style; Margaux closed hard for a 22:28 followed by Sydney with a 22:53. Coach Flatow’s cohort wrapped up the morning with Andrew Richardson’s strong 16:26 clocking, a 5:28 average pace; Alex Nguyen, Andrew Cole and Pranav Reddy were in a tight pack a little behind (along with a bandit entry by Justin Yu).
While there are a few days left for teams and individuals to upload their times, as we sit now, Sylvana is third and Andrew is fourth in their division as individuals, while the girls’ team sits in second place following an impressive team performance by the girls of Ronald Reagan High School of Pfafftown, North Carolina!
With everything that we have endured throughout 2020, it’s hard to evaluate the times we recorded. It is harder to train and harder to race without crowds and support and the excitement of a big meet. However, I know some things. We should look ahead to see the runners in front of us and remember the mostly faster times that we ran last year, and think about the work we want to accomplish as a team and as individuals. It’s important to see where we are and think about our goals. But then…I think it’s important to look backwards. Look backwards not just at the people behind us on the track or behind us in the virtual Woodbridge. Look way, way backwards…at all the people who gave up when the pandemic hit and the season was shut down and have been playing Fortnite every since…look at the people who say they will start running when they know there is a season…look at the people who never tried. Think about the thousands of athletes that are behind you, not just the athletes that can’t match your times but all the athletes that are not even trying. You can only race the athletes that show up, but in more important ways you have defeated everyone that did not show up. You have grit and persistence and resilience that they don’t have. And after you have looked back and seen all that…then look forward again and think about where you are going and what you need to do to get there. Think about the work it will take not just to get back where you were, but also to set some new PRs for yourself in the winter and spring. Think about what you want to do to help your team achieve it’s potential. And prepare to get back to work with the knowledge that you are already a winner in the most important way–you keep showing up.
I think you are pretty great.
Coach
Complete results are on athletic.net.
