First Time Up Fire Trail
The first time in a season when the team heads up Fire Trail is always an event. That climb, on a warm August afternoon, is always tough and there is no easy way to prep for the first run up. So one day coach just says ‘this is what we are running’ and the team rips off the metaphorical bandaid and starts climbing! Monday, August 23, we collectively tore off the bandaid and climbed Fire Trail as a team.
The reward is: Knowing that the difficult is still possible. We learn: The discomfort is temporary. Soon after we hear the cheering of our teammates waiting for us at the top and we get our breath back, the discomfort fades and the satisfaction stays.
The cruel news for the new runners is that the climb to the top of Fire Trail is not the workout, that is only the warm up! From there we head to Matt’s Hill (named for MVXC alumni and former assistant coach Matt Paquet), where we bang out some hill repeats with a payoff view…Matt’s is a pretty gnarly hill, and these repeats are a good way to jumpstart our fitness at the start of a season. Many MVXC21 athletes really challenged themselves and did a couple extra reps, and looked good while running those hills too.
Watermelon 2021 Preview
Thursday, August 26 will see the renewal, after a one year hiatus, of the Watermelon Run as a season opener for MVXC (last year MVXC held the Watermelon Sorta which was a pale imitation of the real thing).
The Watermelon Run is a tough opener…the course is 2.6 miles and is not flat. Most teams have time trials that are much shorter and easier (when your coach was in high school, the cross country time trial was twice around the athletic fields–1.6 flat miles). For that matter, the Watermelon Run is a tougher challenge than some of the races we will run this year…the Artichoke has Cougar Hill but the course is only 2.33, and the Lynbrook Invitational is a 2.2 mile course around the high school.
So the Watermelon is tough, and gets us ready for the racing season. And, we have history that connects our team to the MVXC squads that came before us. There have been 365 Monta Vista boys and 169 Monta Vista girls that have run this course since 2007 (many of these athletes ran multiple times). We are all running in each others’ footsteps.
We have seen some astounding performances, and also some astounding improvements, over the years. At practice this week, we talked about Bennett Zhang, who ran a 22:06 and finished 59th in the Watermelon as a freshman…and through hard work, grit and determination to be the MVXC number one as a senior, posting a 15:09 to take seven minutes off his time! That was not easy, Bennett ran a lot of miles and pushed himself and took care of himself for three years…but he did it. And you can do something like this, too.
And we have our own traditions associated with the day…which I won’t spoil for the new runners.
I think we are all excited about getting back to the Watermelon after missing this for a year! Let’s get this season rolling!
Some Watermelon Records
Top Five Boys All-Time
Rohan Choudhury 14:43 (5:40 pace) 2014
Kranti Peddada 14:58 (5:45) 2010
Brent Mogensen 15:04 (5:48) 2015
Andrew Richardson 15:06 (5:48) 2019
Bennett Zhang 15:09 (5:50) 2016
Top Five Girls All Time
Jenny Xu 17:08 (6:35 pace) 2014
Bridget Gottlieb 17:19 (6:40) 2013
Sylvana Northrop 17:19 (6:40) 2019
Triya Roy 17:19 (6:40) 2019
Sarah Feng 17:30 (6:44) 2016
Freshman Records
Boys: Emilio Torres-Gonzales 15:48 (6:05) 2011
Girls: Jenny Xu 18:11 ((7:00) 2011
Sophomore Records
Boys: Rohun Agrawal 15:09 (5:50) 2018
Girls: Sarah Feng 17:30 (6:44) 2016
Junior Records
Boys: Andrew Richardson 15:06 (5:48) 2019
Girls: Sylvana Northrop 17:19 (6:40) 2019
Team Records
Boys: 2016 78:18 (15:40 average per runner)
Girls: 2014 90:25 (18:05 average per runner)
