Running club keeps racers in shape during off-season
As any aspiring harrier can tell you, it’s always easier to
train when you train with others.
Of course, as any aspiring harrier can tell you, finding
those
”
others
”
usually becomes more difficult in the summer months when school
is out and vacation time is busy being soaked up; more difficult
than perhaps actually running 10 miles in the heat.
Running club keeps racers in shape during off-season
As any aspiring harrier can tell you, it’s always easier to train when you train with others.
Of course, as any aspiring harrier can tell you, finding those “others” usually becomes more difficult in the summer months when school is out and vacation time is busy being soaked up; more difficult than perhaps actually running 10 miles in the heat.
“Running is a lonely sport,” says Gustavo Ibarra.
Ibarra, who formerly coached track and cross country at San Benito High School, teamed up with current SBHS cross country coach Jess Morales in 1998.
When Ibarra left Hollister for North Monterey County, the two started the Tri-County Running Club, which helps offset those summer months for track and cross country athletes, teaching everyone from youngsters to college students on proper technique and stretching, as well as providing those much needed “others” that make the sport more enjoyable.
Now in its 11th year, the running club isn’t slowing down.
“It’s worked out nice,” Ibarra said. “You get a lot of these guys who go to college but who don’t have a team to train with (in the offseason) … They have a place to come back and call home.”
Filiberto Mendez is one of those college students. As part of the 2006 class at SBHS, Mendez recently graduated from Hartnell in Salinas, and plans on attending San Jose State in the fall.
Certainly without a team, or at least between teams, Mendez said he enjoys how the running club brings together schools, brings together rivals, all in an effort of support and solidarity.
“It’s more like a friendship,” Mendez said. “We’ve been competing against each other for a long time and now we can come together. That’s what makes it cool.
Mendez has been participating in the running club for five years now, right through high school and college.
“You get to know a lot of people,” he said.
In fact, organizers of the running club like to see runners of all ages in attendance.
“Running wasn’t as big as it was in the past, but now with a lot of parents running with their kids, a lot of 5Ks, a lot of 10Ks, it’s becoming more popular,” said Morales, who started a running club called the Bumble Bees back in 1978 that lasted six years. “As long as they join, we’ll coach them.”
Although a majority of the harriers at Monday’s running club were in high school or would be soon entering high school, the club did cater to a handful of youngsters as well.
Ceily Hepner, 7, was in attendance at Monday’s meet with her mother, Johnna. Participating in San Benito Aquatics as well as having competed in four triathlons, Ceily Hepner may just sound like a girl who wants to run around.
But as Johnna pointed out, Ceily was involved in the Just Run program, where she ran 60 miles over the course of the year, and was also rather disappointed when finding out last Friday that the running club didn’t actually start until the following Monday.
During a brief water break on Monday, after she ran a warm-up lap and completed the stretching exercises, Ceily noted her affinity to running because her mother runs, and even picked up a new way to stretch her legs.
Surprisingly, Ceily said biking is her favorite leg of the triathlon (running is second), and rather wisely, is keeping her options open in the future, saying it’s too early to decide whether or not she’ll be competing on the high school cross country team.
If anything, though, the 7 year old is certainly staying in shape.
“There are a lot of kids that do that,” said Morales, of those attending the running club simply to stay active in the offseason. “A lot of these kids are first-time runners.”
Some 22 runners came out on Monday to SBHS, where the club runs three days a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3:30 p.m.
The club also runs every Monday at North Monterey County High School, every Wednesday at Toro Park in Salinas, and every Friday at Nisene Marks Park in Aptos at 9 a.m. The club will run through July 28.
When the Tri-County Running Club comes to a close in late July, by then, aspiring harriers will be back with their schools, back with their teams.
Until then, though, the running club will be one of the few alternatives around, bringing runners from all over, of all ages, together.
“It makes it easier when you have those long runs,” Mendez said. “It makes it fun when you have someone else to do it with.”
For more information on the Tri-County Running Club, log on at tricountyrunningclub.tripod.com/ or contact Coach Gustavo Ibarra at
gu*******@ne******.net
.
