diff --git a/run1000.sh b/run1000.sh
index 58ee3bc..2d44859 100644
--- a/run1000.sh
+++ b/run1000.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ export OMP_NUM_THREADS=1
 export NANOCHAT_BASE_DIR="$HOME/.cache/nanochat"
 mkdir -p $NANOCHAT_BASE_DIR
 command -v uv &> /dev/null || curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
-[ -d ".venv" ] || uv venv
 uv sync --extra gpu
 source .venv/bin/activate
 if [ -z "$WANDB_RUN" ]; then
diff --git a/speedrun.sh b/speedrun.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 7955ec5..bfe29b0
--- a/speedrun.sh
+++ b/speedrun.sh
@@ -20,9 +20,7 @@ mkdir -p $NANOCHAT_BASE_DIR
 
 # install uv (if not already installed)
 command -v uv &> /dev/null || curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
-# create a .venv local virtual environment (if it doesn't exist)
-[ -d ".venv" ] || uv venv
-# install the repo dependencies
+# create a .venv local virtual environment (if it doesn't exist) and install the repo dependencies
 uv sync --extra gpu
 # activate venv so that `python` uses the project's venv instead of system python
 source .venv/bin/activate