“To me, the essential difference between a jogger and a runner was not ability or training; it was an entry blank.”
~George Sheehan
Dr. Sheehan believed that racing and becoming a competitive athlete was an essential part of running. I think that this part of our competitive spirit is something that is part of real runners; not necessarily because we are trying to win a certain race. I think it is important as runners for us to be willing to get out there and be measured, not only against each other, but against ourselves. Getting out and competing and preparing to compete encourages us to work harder than if we were only joggers. The competition is out there to help us find things inside ourselves that we did not know we possess. Whether we are extremely fast or not, pinning on a bib and getting on the start line is valuable and also brave. Being in a race pushes us a bit no matter what level of athlete. Getting out there are pursuing our best in a race is never a trivial pursuit.
Seven Monta Vista High School cross country athletes agree with Dr. Sheehan and me, and they had a big start to their summer running, as they traveled to Lake Tahoe to compete in the Lake Tahoe Relay!
As you might have already guessed, or maybe be too scared to guess, the Lake Tahoe Relay is a race completely around Lake Tahoe. The total length of the race is 72 miles, with seven team members running legs of 8 to 12 miles each. And remember–this running is at a high altitude. The organizers claim this is the oldest long distance relay in the country–53 years!
Tackling a race like this is no joke. And the boys did not just go up for an easy run; they took 3rd place in the high school division with a time of 8:53:31! That is pretty impressive…not just the time, but the initiative to seek out a race like this and then the drive to organize a team to get registered and travel up to Tahoe for the competition. Congratulations to Jason and Kyle Tsujimoto, Andrew Ma, Aidan Gottlieb, Jeffrey Xu, Andy Fang and Kamyar Moradi both for competing but more notably committing to compete in this great event.
As a coach, I’ve got to say, there are some cool things about this. One, the boys did this all on their own. This was not my idea or Coach Johnson’s idea, the boys cooked this up and did this on their own! Also, this is the kind of thing that my own running group does; we organize small and large groups to travel to races in Boston, Chicago, Eureka, Houston, Seattle to compete together; you all are ahead of my group, planning travel for racing when you are still in high school!
Jason told me that they all had a great time, and are hoping to go back next year–and take some other teams also! What a great idea. I could see more boys’ and girls’ teams, maybe alumni teams, heading up to Tahoe as a big MVXC/MVTF party to celebrate the end of school year and kick off summer training. Very cool!
Guys, we are so proud of you. Well done!
There is more information on the Tahoe Relay online, and there are more photos of the team also.
