1) How did you get your start in running? What was your first success?
I started running in 6th grade on the XC team, I didn't run XC every year from 6th grade on, but I did run track every year. As to when I had my first success, I can't really remember. It depends on what you quantify success as. To me success is pushing yourself to the limits with the situation you are given, whether you win or lose or set a new record. So in that case my first success was when I ran my first race in 6th grade. I think I was 6th or 7th in the race, but I remember vomiting and not being able to walk back to the car when it was over.
2) Tell us a little about your freshman experience in high school in both sports (XC and TF). Highlights in both sports. Who were your mentors or runners that you looked up to as a freshman?
I did not run XC as a Freshman. I did run track though. The highlight of my Freshman year was probably breaking 5:00 in 1600m, nothing else really stands out in my memory about Freshman year. The main person I looked up to my Freshman year was Dominic Castro-Wehr. He was a Junior at the time and I remember watching him have some close kick finishes in the 1600m that really inspired me to try to do the same in my races.
3) What about your sophomore seasons? Highlights in both sports?
Sophomore year was my first year of High School XC and I remember the first 5k I ran in the summer was around 23:00. I kept at it and by the beginning of the XC season I was in the high 18:00s. The race that stands out the most was at the Stanford Invitational where my goal was to break 18:00. I remember just moving up the entire race and I finished with a 17:26, way above my expectations. My best race, however, was at Folsom when I got down to 17:04(I think) and on that course that was a really good time for me at the time. In Track that year I remember breaking 2:00 in the 800 for the first time, and that was really big for me. My goal for the 1600m that year had been high 4:30s and I ended up running a 4:28, coming in behind Dominic Castro-Wehr at a dual meet. I was really surprised when I heard my time. This was towards the end of the season and I ended up taking a nasty fall while trying to qualify for the 800 at Leagues and I never got to finish my season.
4) What do you feel was your best race during your junior cross country season? What about during track season?
Junior year of XC my best race was definitely at Sections where I ran a 15:59 on the Folsom course, which I think is better than a 15:42 I ran at Clovis earlier that year considering the course. In track my favorite(not necessarily best) was at Leagues in the 1600m. I really wanted to beat Trent Brendel, a Senior at the time from Granite Bay, because I knew he was, based off the evidence and my own observations, the best guy out there. I followed him for the first two laps and I believe I was in 6th and he was in 5th. The first 800 was slow, about a 2:18 for me, 2:16ish for the leaders. Trent started to really pick it up on the third lap, and I went with him. By the fourth lap it was him in first and me in second going at a pretty fast pace. It seemed like we both just kept going harder and harder all the way till the end. I ended up passing him in the last 100m to win with a 4:17. We had run about a 1:59-2:00 last 800, which I thought was pretty insane considering that just a year from then that was my PR in the 800. Trent ended up beating me at Sections and Masters, and finished his season with a 4:13 while I had a 4:15.
5) What did you do differently in preparation for your senior cross country season? Workouts? Typical mileage per week? Races?
There wasn't much difference between preparation for my Senior year of XC as opposed to my Junior year. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I was running faster on my easy runs and long runs than I was my junior year, I just wasn't going much farther. Same thing with the workouts, they were scaled to be harder time wise, but they were along the same lines as what I was doing my junior year. I was doing around 60 miles a week.
