Let Me Run - Giving a little something back
Yesterday, I had the privilege of helping a fellow TrySports Team mate with program that she is doing through "Let Me Run" for 4th and 5th grade boys at Sandy Ridge Elementary school.
The boys range in ages from 9-11 and for most of them, this is their first experience with running. Through the program, they have broken up the 32 boys across 3 teams and Julie is one of 6 coaches. Each team has 2 coaches.
Yesterday, these boys attempted their only 3 mile run before finishing up the program with a 5k race next weekend. To give Julie and the other coaches some assistance, Meredith, Noah (Meredith's son), Justin, Billy, Carolyn, Glenn, and I met them at the elementary school for this run. We became assist coaches to the coaches. With only two coaches per team, they were spread thin during the actual running. With our help more boys had someone to accompany them during their run.
I ran with a couple guys Ashtin and Justin from our group but tried to give out as much encouragement as possible to the others as we passed. Our group stayed on campus and ran this ½ mile loop around the school so we had to complete 6 laps to make the 3 mile distance. The run wasn't easy on the boys considering it was a little after 2pm yesterday. The heat and humidity had them sweating pretty hard. Each lap required a water stop and a marking so the boys could remember how many laps they had run. My group of guys ran about 32 minutes and then, I circled back to help run in with some of the others.
I found this amazing group of boys to be awe inspiring. Having run for so many years, I take for granted going out my front door and going for a run. Seeing them run brought back memories of what it was like for me when I started running and how tough it is to run when the body first began to experience the effort required to run more than a few hundred yards.
Another thing that struck me was how polite these boys were. Now, I know their coaches were around so this might have had something to do with it. But something tells me, their parents, their teachers, and their "Let Me Run" coaches are setting an excellent example for them to follow.
Good luck to Julie and her fellow coaches and especially to all of the boys in the program during their upcoming 5k race.
Sharing one thought at time,
The Cool Down Runner
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