“When I think about running, I get chills,” senior Megan Bordes confessed with an unabashed grin. “Sometimes it starts in my legs and works its way up, or in my brain and then down my arms. I love the adrenaline.”
Megan, whose parents both enjoy sports, began running cross country in third grade. “I would just run, trying to beat the boys,” she said. “I guess my PE teacher saw that I was fast, and she put me on the track team.”
Despite her early start, Megan didn’t get truly get serious about running until her junior year of high school, when she transferred from Saint Ignatius High School to Redwood. Since then, she’s been the number one runner on the team. “Being around people who were happy, who loved to run…it was like a breath of fresh air,” Megan said.
Since she has arrived at Redwood, Megan has been the top runner on the cross country team. She recently completed a three-mile cross country course in the sweepstakes race at the prestigous Mount Sac Invitational in Southern California with a time of 18:46, which ranked 12th best out of the times of 98 participants.
Her experience with Redwood’s cross country team made running more than just a sport for Megan. “I guess I fell in love with running when I realized that I could do something with it,” she said. “I never realized how much of an impact I could have before I joined the team. There are people I look up to, and now people look up to me.”
One of those people is her younger sister, Rachel Bordes. She joined the varsity cross country team this year as a freshman, and looks forward to running for all four years at Redwood. “Running is a big part of who I am,” she said. “I couldn’t get through the day without it.”
But Rachel, also a varsity runner on the cross country team, would never have begun running without Megan. “I always saw my sister running, and I guess watching her got me into it, too,” Rachel said. “Now, running on the same team as her brings us closer. We’re in it together.”
Megan shares her sister’s sentiment. “Every person contributes to the team, that’s what makes us a ‘team’. When Rachel came on the team, that whole idea became clearer to me,” she said. “Sharing what I love with my sister makes our bond deeper.”
Being on the team together doesn’t stop the sisters from poking fun at each other, however. “I always tease Rachel about her arms,” Megan said, grinning as she tucked her own close and moved them the barest amount in a demonstration. “She doesn’t use them to push her forward right. But she’s learning, and that’s important.”
The sisters have helped the girls’ cross country team go undefeated during the regular season, achieving a 9-0 record.
Watch Rachel and Megan run in the MCAL Championship this Thursday, Nov. 8, at Indian Valley College.
