For the past four years, senior Andreas Godderis has not only been a member of the school’s cross country team, but has, in many ways, been a consistent leader. Over the years, Andreas has become one of the top-scoring runners at Los Altos High School.

“I fell in love with the sport and the team, decided to run cross country during my freshman year and stuck with it, because I realized I was pretty good,” Andreas said.

His evolving passion for the sport first stemmed out of a dedication to a different one: soccer, which he finds to be a unique aspect of his running experience.

“It’s definitely an unconventional start to my running career,” Andreas said. “Most of the guys I compete against have been running competitively since elementary school.”

Although Andreas finds the sport to be extremely demanding physically, he depends on running for relaxation.

“The underlying reason [I love to run] is the relaxation,” Andreas said. “Being out on the road or on a trail gets your endorphins flowing.”

As he progressed through each year, Andreas found himself reaching new heights and achieving new goals each season.

“I usually like to run a lot of ‘base miles’ instead of workouts,” Andreas said. “I typically do about 60 miles per week, and I peaked at 71 miles a week this season. This is something I’ve been doing since freshman year and it’s worked out for me as I’ve never had a running related injury which is a small miracle by itself. I’m fortunate that my body can handle the high mileage and allow me to train this way because long distance is really what I love.”

In addition to running for the school, Andreas will be participating in the San Francisco Marathon next summer. Through school training for cross country and track, he hopes to be in tip-top shape for the marathon.

At school, Andreas has received the “All-League Sportsmanship Award” from his cross-country team for the past two seasons. This achievement could be attributed to Andreas’ role on the team as both a peer and leader. As an upperclassman, Andreas has worked on the team not only as a runner himself, but also as a coach of sorts, especially to the younger students on the team. He prides himself on his ability to connect with the runners as a fellow athlete, giving them advice on technique and tips on how to better their performance.

“If I see someone who has maybe got [some] issues with their running form or [is] running a little bit slower than they usually do, I’ll ask them what’s up and maybe ask them if they got enough sleep or what they ate during the day, and then give them tips on what I would do if I was in their position,” Andreas said. “And a lot of times when that’s coming from a fellow athlete, they listen more than if it’s coming from a coach, who is kind of an outsider.”

During the summers, Andreas’ conditioning work has led to him finding ardent diversion in cycling as well as running. Cycling started out as a way to supplement training for cross country, but soon, Andreas found himself participating in cycling competitively as a hobby completely unrelated to the athletic work he completes in school.

“I like to switch up my training a little bit and work on strengthening different muscle groups while still maintaining fitness,” Andreas said. “Being on a bike is really nice because you can go so much further, to the coast for example, and the scenery is always nice.”

Andreas is always pushing himself to be better, work harder, and, no pun intended, put in the extra mile. He loves the sport not for the accolade or the attention, but rather the feeling he is able to secure from it.

“When you go out for a run … you get what’s called a ‘runner’s high,’ and you literally feel invincible,” Andreas said. “You can just power up any hill. You pay the consequences later, but at the time it’s better than any other feeling.”