No Breaks Give Dani His Break : Valhalla Senior Trains Year-Round to Be Top Runner

A lot of runners talk about the feeling they get while running. Some turn starry-eyed when talking about their almost religious experiences while churning out mile after mile.

That’s the way it is for Valhalla High School’s Mark Dani, who says it hurts when he runs, but it’s a good hurt. It helps him feel as if he is “doing something good.”

It also helps him when he’s hurting in life.

It wasn’t always that way. For most of his running life, Dani was just a “seasonal” runner, training just before and during the current season.

But an embarrassing finish during his junior year changed that. Dani now runs twice a day, every day. In fact, in the last year he has missed only four days, all because of minor injuries.

Dani believes it is that commitment that has made him the best young distance runner in San Diego County and one of the best in the country.

Dani will be the focus of the boys’ 2-mile Sunday in the Michelob Invitational at the San Diego Sports Arena. The 18-year-old from El Cajon will be competing against a superb field and will try to break the meet record of 8:59.6 set by Dale Fleet. He has a good chance, too, considering he ran a 9:01 with wet, heavy shoes in the rain two weeks ago at San Diego State.

Dani was introduced to running when he was in seventh grade. Dani took an immediate liking, and had natural talent as well. But there wasn’t the closeness there is now.

Dani showed promise as a distance runner by the time he was in eighth grade in Eureka. After just two years of seasonal running, he placed eighth in his age group at a national cross-country meet.

But in his freshman year, Dani did not even run cross-country. Dani’s parents moved him to El Cajon and Dani expressed his displeasure by not running cross-country.

“I was mad at my Dad,” said Dani, whose father is also interested in running. “I didn’t want to move. I loved it (in Eureka).”

So Dani brooded for about a year and half until he went for a run.

“I went out and ran just for fun during my sophomore year,” Dani said. “I ran a 5:02 mile. I said, ‘Damn, I really want to break five minutes.’ So I went out for track, and the next thing I knew, I was running 4:25.

“I’m really glad I took the time off now. It helped me mature and get stronger. It worked out really well.”

Dani came to a crossroads after his junior cross-country season. He was the league’s runner-up and qualified for the Kinney Western Regionals in Fresno. But as Dani says, he “got lit up” in the regionals, placing an embarrassing 102nd.

At that time, Dani increased his training schedule and became more serious. A year later, Dani was in much better shape when the cross-country season began.

Now in his senior year, Dani outdueled San Diego High’s Marc Davis to win the San Diego Section 2-A championship and then took second in Western Regionals, where the top eight qualify for the Kinney National Championships.

Dani solidified his position as one of the best in the country when he finished third at the national championships at Morley Field. He then placed fourth in the International Amateur Athletic Federation World Cross-Country Championships qualifying meet two weeks ago in Waco, Texas. That earned him a trip to Neuchatel, Switzerland, where he will compete in the junior world championships March 23.

By this time, running for Dani was more than keeping up with the leaders in big meets.

“If you keep on running year-round, you’re body doesn’t have to rebuild. You’re at the same level all the time,” he said.

Dani runs every morning before school and then heads out again when he gets home, totaling about 70 miles per week. And he sees a physical therapist who helps him stretch to prevent injuries. But there is more to Dani’s miles than training for the next race.

It helps him work out problems.

Once recent example Dani was shy about for a long time. His parents are getting a divorce. He told no one at first, and then only a few close friends. Even now he is guarded in talking about it, but says his running gave him an important outlet.

“It’s a good way to take out your anger,” Dani said. “Most people would give up. But running helped me a lot.

“There’s not really much to talk about the divorce. Other people can’t relate to it unless they went through it, too. After (running), any problem you have you can handle it more, you can take more stress. Running is great for that.”

Some of the best high school distance runners in the West will be at the meet Sunday. The Mastalir brothers, Mark (who was second in the Kinney nationals) and Eric (who was eighth in the same race), will be pushing Dani on the indoor track. That competition is important, Dani says, but maybe less so for him than others.

“It’s me running against the clock and the course,” Dani said. “They help me get through it, but it’s not ‘Me against these guys.’ I look at my time.”

Numerous colleges have contacted Dani about scholarships, though he says it’s as important to him that the school have a good physical therapy program as a good running program.

“It’s hard to make money as a runner,” he said. “I want to have something I can fall back on. I’ll probably run for a long time, but, physically, its hard to compete for a long time.

“Even if I wasn’t competing, I’d still run as much. It’s just that feeling you get. You know you have done something good. I love it.”