The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

Cross country: Season begins with a united team of many perspectives

Cross+country%3A+Season+begins+with+a+united+team+of+many+perspectives

Untitled

It’s a grueling 85 degrees, and the whole cross-country team, present and lively, awaits Coach Kirk Flatow’s commands. They’re a team, and they’re here together, waiting for Flatow to utter the magic word “Go,” which dismisses them off to McClellan Ranch Park. They’re a team, but each of them has their own running style some sprint off at the beginning to get an early lead, others start off with a jog to save their energy. They’re a team, but they’re all so different.

And that’s how it is with this group of cross country runners. They’re all together because of their love for cross-country, but they all view the sport in a different way.

20150821_151639
Mizuki Kadowaki (left) and Valerie Lo (right) ready for a day at practice

Sophomore Mizuki Kadowaki and Senior Valerie Lo, for example, have found that cross-country can help someone make friends. They have become closer through cross-country and have developed a meaningful friendship.

El Estoque: How did your friendship begin?

Kadowaki: We started over summer running. We were the only ones who were the same speed, so we just ran together, because running together is more fun.

Lo: And running makes you connect more because you have nothing better to do than to talk to each other.

EE: Do you feel that running together has brought both of you closer?

Lo: Of course. When you’re running, you want to keep your mind off of the pain you’re in, so you just have to talk to others.

EE: Did you know each other before summer started?

Kadowaki: I kind of knew her last year, but not really. Our relationship has definitely developed from cross-country.

 

DSC_0018
Junior Kelly Bishop after a day of practice

Junior Kelly Bishop, on the other hand, has chosen to look at the more competitive side of cross-country, and considers pursuing it as a career.

EE: Why did you choose to start running cross-country?

Bishop: My older brother ran, and every sport he did, I decided to try out.

EE: Have you ever achieved anything in cross-country that really made you feel validated, and sparked an interest in running as a career?

Bishop: Well, I’ve been on varsity my whole [high school] career, so we won CCS and I was second  on our team, and I scored points for my team. When we won CCS my freshman year, when we got second, we were second by 6 points, and we were ahead of the third place team by six points, so it was all very close, and I scored points for our team. In those moments, I was like wow, this is really fun, it’s definitely great.

EE: Would you consider cross-country as a career?

Bishop: It’s definitely an option, and cross-country is definitely very high on the list of considerations. I’m also considering triathlons, because that has running in it and I swim, too. Just something with running and athletics.

 

DSC_0017
Coach Kirk Flatow at cross country practice

And Flatow, coach of the cross country team, chose to start coaching as a hobby.

EE: What are your hopes for this team?
Flatow: My hopes for this team are that everyone can PR, or [get a personal record]. If everybody PR’s, it’s a great season.

EE: Do you feel that you’ve learned things from cross-country?

Flatow: The thing that cross country can teach you is that if you work hard over a period of time you will get better, and even though you can have a lot of disappointments, if you stick with it, you will get better. And that’s true in almost anything in life.

EE: Why did you start coaching cross-country?

Flatow: Before I did this, I was a business executive in the Silicon Valley, for more than twenty years, and started a company and did some different things. I felt that some of the things that I learned in cross-country helped me in my business. Once I retired early, I decided to become a cross country coach, and pass on some of the things that my coach taught me, to kids. I felt that it was sort of my duty and responsibility to pass on what I got, to other people.

 

To every runner, to every person on the cross country team, cross-country means something unique. To Kadowaki and Lo, it helped them become friends. To Bishop, it’s a career option. And to Flatow it’s the job that he loves.

To all four, cross-country means something different. It’s one sport, with so many perspectives.

More to Discover