Summer went by fast! But here we are…ready for the first practice of the 2025 cross country season, on Saturday, August 9, at 7 AM.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to see you! I’ve missed you all a lot. This is going to be a great season, and you are going to improve and run faster than you think you can! Yes, I’m talking to you.
Here is what you need to know to be ready for our first practices.
Before Our First Practice
- Get your athletic clearance. All the information is here. You may not practice with the team until you have been cleared by the school.
- Get new shoes that are fitted for you. Please don’t grab those tennis shoes from the back of your closet your dad bought for you on line in 7th grade! New shoes that are fitted for you will feel great and help you to avoid injury. Running Revolution in Campbell and other running specialty stores will help you out and offer discounts to Monta Vista cross country runners. Read this.
- Optional: This is a great water bottle to run with on a hot afternoon. I know many people think these are annoying, but your coach lived with his when he was marathon training.
- Request access to our Discord server (punch the purple join here button at the bottom of our team home page). Please a name we recognize as you not a handle (e.g. Nikki Hiltz or Nikki_H not FsstRunGod). Parents can join also, and please use a name we can recognize and relates you to your runner (e.g. Nikki’s Mom).
Practices Before School Starts
- Practice will meet at 7 AM on the steps in front of the baseball field beginning Saturday, August 9. We will there at 7 AM on Monday, August 11 through Saturday, August 16.
- Friday, August 15 is an exception: we will meet at the bus circle in front of the school. We will be going to Santa Cruz for a beach run!
- We expect everyone at practice and will start taking attendance. The beach run is optional, and you are excused for conflicts with regular school activities such as orientation or registration for classes (not other extracurricular activities).
- Expect practice to be finished by 9 AM (except for the beach run, we hope to be back by noon that Friday).
- Wear your nice new running shoes! See above 🙂
Practices After School Starts on August 18
- Practice will begin 20 minutes after the last bell; so practice begins at 4:10 PM on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and at 3:25 PM on Wednesday and Friday. Expect practice to last two hours.
- On Saturdays, practice will start at 7 AM, unless we have competition on that Saturday.
- Our competition schedule is posted here.
- Practices are required from Monday though Friday. In order to earn PE credit, an athlete must not miss more than five practices during the season and may not miss team races (the Three Course Challenge is optional) (being late or leaving early is an absence). We all practice until the end of the season on Senior Run Day, November 5. After that, the varsity teams that qualify for the Central Coast Championships continue to train, and practice is optional for everyone else.
- Expect practice to last two hours except for the Watermelon Run practice which may take three hours).
