Warning: This ends with me running my personal slowest 5k by over 6 minutes.
I tackled a project this fall that totally Kicked My Ass.
I’ve posted some about my preparation for my fall project, like when I took the Road Runners Clubs of America (RRCA) Coach Certification class and a CPR class. But I haven’t said why I was doing those things.
Now, for the Grand Reveal.
I coached a Run Club at a local elementary school.
It was incredibly frustrating, challenging, and difficult but extremely rewarding.
One thing to keep in mind is that I work as a computer programmer in a very…mature office. At 41 years old, I’m probably 20 years younger than the average age. It’s a very slow, quiet, and structured place to work.
The exact opposite of coaching 30-some 1st to 8th graders.
While I had a teacher and a couple semi-regular volunteers helping me, I was totally out of my element. With their help and some additional support and advice from fellow coaches, Rebecca and Ann, I survived and, I think, near the end, almost knew what I was doing.
But there were times that I came home and wanted to quit. From a second grader hitting another second grader in the gut, to trying to get some of the kids to actually run, to dealing with a boy who couldn’t control his temper, to a girl learning about “the trots” the hard way, to trying to come up with snacks twice a week, to trying to keep the 1st graders to middle-schoolers interested at the same time, to one of the kids crashing with Gumby in the end-of-season race.
I do appreciate more what my teacher-wife goes through on a daily basis.
But uff-da!
But it was extremely rewarding, too. From the girl who always pushed to do a little more, to the 3rd grader who just kept going and going and going, to figuring out how to manage one of the tricky kids, to getting a gift of cookies, and just getting to know the kids, I learned a ton. I grew a bunch. I might not yet be a good kids coach but no one got a concussion the second half of the season so that’s a positive.
This was, in a way, therapy for me. I’ve been painfully shy–at least around new people–for most of my life. Largely due to the fact that I had a hard time making some sounds when I was young; partially, I think, because I grew up surrounded by people with Finnish accents. I often was embarrassed or frustrated because people could not understand what I was saying so to prevent that from happening, I talked as little as possible around new people.
As some point, I outgrew most of my speech problems but I never really realized it. It only was recently that it dawned on me that I rarely had to repeat myself to people. But I still carried the fear of talking to new people with me. And talking to groups–I was almost completely successfully in avoiding it.
After my epiphany, I started to make an effort to talk in groups–at first it was in company meetings with co-workers that I had worked with for a few year.
But coaching really forced me to get over any fears of talking in a hurry. I had 30-some kids I needed to yell at give instructions to, I had parents that I needed to yell at communicate with, and I had assistant coaches & volunteers to yell at coordinate. And, for the most part, I didn’t have time to think about it, I just had to do what needed to be done.
But really the most rewarding part was getting to know the kids. At the end of the season we ran a local Halloween race. We had 19 participants run a quarter-mile fun run and five participant, one volunteer, and myself run a 5k at the end.
I ended up hanging back with the 5kers instead of really racing but even that was incredible. I watched as our 3rd grader, who ran slow & steady, raced another boy about his age and, just like the proverbial tortoise, win in the end. I got to cheer our middle-schooler as she finished her first 5k with a flourish even though her shins were killing her–I told her it was OK to walk it in but she was determined to run the final stretch.
I looked forward to the end, but now I’m starting to plan for the Spring session.
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