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Summer serves as a respite for high school students, a chance to get away from school to work or relax. Cross country (XC) athletes, however, face another rite of summer: preparation. Every morning, Alpine High School (AHS) & Alpine Middle School (AMS) cross country runners are rising with the sun when they’d really rather not ... to face some morning mileage. For long-distance athletes, the season is year-long, because to be competitive in the Fall, at district and regional, one needs to run continuously during XC season, over winter break, during track season, and the summer. The summer is all about building base mileage, even amidst the challenges of hot weather and the innate urge to sleep in and just . . . vacation; only the highly motivated succeed. In addition to the group runs several days a week held by their coach, athletes look for other chances to vary their running regimen. Student athletes often participate in annual, community-held fun runs that give them a chance to engage with their local running community. The Cowboy fun run, held shortly after school ends in May, allowed runners to chase after a space alien. At the recent and very popular 4th of July Fort Davis fun run, ten Alpine XC runners ran with friends or family, and a few pushed their limits even before the XC season started to see where they stood.
