Being #1 on your team as a sophomore is rare enough, and being able to compete with some of the best in the state is even more impressive.
Photo and interview by Ben Crawford.
Alexis Garcia placed second in the Boys Sweepstakes Race at last week's Orange County Championships, running a time of 15:05. He was also the number one runner for Newport Harbor who finished in 8th place. Newport Harbor has been steadily on the rise this year and is currently #11 in CIF Southern Section Division 2. The Sailors have not had a state meet berth since 2007, but look to qualify this season.
1. What was your plan for the race? What goals did you set for yourself coming into the meet? Are you surprised with your time? My plan was just to go out and run in the lead pack. I normally try to push the pace if the race goes out a little slower, but since this meet is more about placing rather than time, I decided to go with the pace. I knew that as long I could keep in contact with Jack Landgraf, I would set myself up for a successful day. At two miles the front group was still pretty big, but I wasn't worried. Once we got to the hill, Jack made his move and I knew that if I tried to go with him, I would end up getting dropped, so I decided to stay back. Once we got into the last 400m, it was me and two or three other guys going all out towards the line. My coach has taught me to trust my kick so that's exactly what I did and I ended up passing them all and getting second. I was super happy with my performance because I know I am capable of beating all those guys and it was reassuring that I did. My goal was to get top three, but deep down I knew I could get second so basically my goal was to get second. My team wanted to get a top five finish, but our 3rd and 5th runners struggled so we did not meet our expectations. I am surprised with my time because usually second place will also break 15 minutes, but I did not. I'm not disappointed with the slower time because I know that I placed well. I wouldn't have been as satisfied with a faster time and lower finish.2. Last year you ran 16:32, what did you do to improve, also do you think you raced any different? Last year OC Champs was only my third race, so I was still really new to the sport and didn't know how to use the course to my advantage. I really did not change a whole lot, I just got bigger and faster by growing and I ran more frequently. There was nothing specific we did to change our training from last year. Like I said before it was only my third race so I hadn't even been on the team for a month yet. I for sure raced different because I just tried to run as fast as I could for as long as I could. I died out towards the end but overall it was still a good race for me.
3. When did you start running? Have you played any other sports? I started running in 8th grade, but I did sprints and shorter events. Back when I used to live in Mexico, me and my friends would run all the time just playing games and messing around, so I don't really count that as actual running. Honestly I just think I have a lot of natural talent which I am very grateful for. I played soccer in Mexico as a kid which was a lot of fun. I still try to play whenever I have free time or am hanging out with friends.
4. When did you move from Mexico? Was it hard transitioning to life in the US? When I was in 7th grade we moved to America from Mexico City. It was hard for me to fit in when I first went to school because I knew almost no English. I am really glad I did move though because life is a lot better here than back home. Where I grew up, I would have never had these chances to succeed in sports and school. Running has been able to take me places I would have never imagined. It is cool to share articles and photos of my medals with family back home, I know they are really proud of me and what I've been able to do.
5. What does a typical training week look like for you? Where do you normally run? Our schedule changed from the summer once we start school and start racing, but during school we usually we do a long run on Monday's. These runs can be anywhere from 7 to 9 miles and are always on the sidewalks or bike paths. Tuesday's and Thursday's are always work out days. We rotate between three different workouts, which are surges, mile repeats, or hills. Our hill runs are usually continuous and end up totaling around 6 or 7 miles in total distance. Wednesday's are just regular 4 to 6 mile runs at an easy pace to recover from the workouts, but still get in light mileage. On Friday's, we either do a really short 2 or 3 mile run, or during the summer of before an easy race we will play ultimate frisbee with the whole team. All of our runs are just either through the neighborhoods, on Pacific Coast Highway, or on the Newport Beach Boardwalk. We are lucky that our runs are in such nice places with good views of the ocean. Most workouts are done in the neighborhoods too, except mile repeats are run on a bike path adjacent to a park.
6. Being your team's #1 runner as a sophomore, have you taken a leadership role at all? Being honest not really. Although I am the fastest, I still look up to the seniors and juniors because they have more experience than me. Like if I need to stretch something out or need advice on a racing strategy, I will look to the upperclassmen for advice. It is pretty cool how we all interact because we don't put as much emphasis on speed as we do on character and seniority. Some of the most involved guys on the team aren't even on varsity.
7. What's your favorite race, favorite course, favorite workout, favorite run, favorite movie, favorite song, and favorite thing to do in your free time? My favorite race is the Dana Hills Invitational because it is where I ran my first race after two days of training and got 17:01. This past year I ran 14:49 so it always has brought me fast times which I like. My favorite course is Huntington Beach Central Park because it is my home course. I have ran it twice this year and won both times, we also have our league meets there so usually we end up running it as many as three times. The course itself is not that fast, but since we run it a lot, I am used to it. My favorite workout is mile repeats because I am able to go super fast and try and work on my endurance for the first mile of races. My favorite long run has to be running on the boardwalk at the beach to the pier. It is a 9 mile run, but it is so much fun because it's all flat and the view is super nice the whole time too. My favorite movie is McFarland USA because it inspires me to run my hardest no matter what. My favorite song is ride by 21 Pilots. It's funny because the first time I heard it was on my way to a track race where I pr'ed in both events so I kept listening to it for good luck. In my free time, I love to play Fifa on my xbox and also to hang out with my friends. We go on a lot of crazy adventures.
8. Do you want to run in college? Yes I really want to run in college because I know if I keep working I might be able to get a full scholarship somewhere and that would be amazing. One day I hope to run internationally for Mexico so I know that I need to keep running if I want to do that.
9. Anything else? I just want to say thank you to my family and my mom for supporting me and my running. It means a lot of have your family behind you when you are doing something you love. Also I want to give my team a shout out because the guys are awesome and super funny.
