KC Cody here battles with rival JK Withers (Cardinal Newman) in the Viking Invite this past weekend

Montgomery HS star KC Cody has been off to a fine start this Fall with high placings in a couple of multi-school affairs already this season. As part of the super Santa Rosa running scene he took the time to talk to us about his efforts this season, some workouts, the Santa Rosa running situation, and we always ask for some advice for new runners!!! Thanks KC and best of luck

1) Briefly describe the successes of your cross-country season so far this Fall--

So far I would have to say that it's been great. Matt and I are on a roll, and it's only a matter of time until Regan Masi and Andrew G. get up with us. We have a solid top four, but we need a solid 5th man. We have a prospect in Alex Connely, and I['m pretty sure he can pull through for us when the big meets roll around. Finishing 2nd at the Rancho Invite was really cool, considering Matt and I are 3rd and 5th all time on that course now. And Viking was really good. I would have liked 1st, but I know what I did wrong and hopefully I can make it right next time around.

2) How did you do last year in Cross-Country and Track?

I did pretty well. In XC I was really motivated and trained pretty hard over the summer. It payed off big time at Ed Sias, and from there I just kept getting better. I actually got sick a lot last fall, so that hurt me. But I set a school record at Cow Chip, and I got really high on the all time for the Viking Opener. 7th I believe. I got shafted out of state by 2 seconds at NCS, but life goes on. I tried to make too much of the season though when I went to Western Regionals. I totally bombed, didn't even finish. But it motivated me like nothing has before. It really made me think when I was sitting ont he side of the trail at poop-out hill and watching the guys who run 7:30's or slower keep running, and I decided that I'd never quit agian.
In track things went really well. I tryed the 800 and ran a 2:05, but it's not my thing. I specialized in the mile, making it to the prelims in MOC. That meet was a dissapointment, but I PRed at Empire with a 4:28. So overall I'd say I was really pleased with Track and XC last year.

3) What big races do you have coming up?

We made money all summer to go to Haiwi'i, so I'm really looking forward to that. We also have Stanford and whatnot. I'm really looking forward to those races.

4) Briefly what did your team do for workouts Monday through Friday week of Viking Opener?

We actually had a meet on tuesday (It wasn't much, a very informal 1.8 miles called Ragel Ranch Relays) and then we had a recovery on wednsday, thursday we had a semi-hard day (10 30 seconds at 2 mile race pace on the course) and then we had a course jog on friday.

5) What kind of training did you do this summer to prepare for Cross-Country?

Our team has unnoffical practices over the summer. Basically the varistiy teams and people who want to get better. We meet at 6:30 AM almost each day and run. We slowly build up our milage until we top off at about 60 per week and a 15 or 16 miler on saturdays for the last two weeks. But we were starting with 30 mile weeks and just made our way up. Some speed, but only about one per week.

6) Do all the good runners and the Santa Rosa tradition in your area motivate you or keep you on your toes all the time as far as knowing you need to be ready?

Definately. Having JK, Eddie, Rubin etc. is always in my head. Just about every race I'll run this year is going to have at least one of them in it. And if not, I'll have three guys on my team that can pull a win out of their pocket. And the tradition really does keep me motivated to some degree. Because I look at Jordan and Ryan Mack and those guys and I really want to beat some of their times, so it definately has an inpact.

7) Any funny racing or training stories you could pass along?

Not a lot of racing stories, but training, I've got some. They're really hard to explain though, you kinda had to be there. But one time my teammate Regan was runing along with our coach Josh D. and a squirrel jumped out onto right infront of Regan. It didn't notice Regan unitl it was in mid flight, and it did some really crazy twist thing and ran around Regans leg for about 2 full circles and then ran away.

8) The age-old question, why all the good runners from the Santa Rosa area?

That really is a good question. To be honest, I'm not really sure. It obviously has become part of our culture here, so more people are hearing about it and trying it. But really, I'm not all that sure. The girls on our team are mostly soccer converts, and soccer is huge here. So I think both play a really big role.

9) Any advice to new runners out there?

'Never, Never, Never Quit." -Winston Churchill

Keep it up, and never limit yourself. Shoot high, becuase even if you come up short, you still did a helluva job.

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