Once I finished coaching the Run Club this Fall, my focus changed–I put up my own shingle and started offering online coaching services under the name "Tundra Running".
When I signed up for the RRCA coaching class, I did so because (a) I had wanted to for awhile for my own personal interest and (b) because I could justify it for the coaching I was planning to do. But deep down, even if I hadn't really admitted it to myself yet, I wanted to give professional coaching a try.
Now, I have helped friends in an informal basis for years, I study running a lot so I consider myself knowledge, and having run (albeit on & off) for decades, I think I have a lot to offer.
But wow, similar to coaching 30-some kids, just getting going was more work than I expected. I wanted to keep my expenses low so I did all the webwork myself and for some geeky reason, I decided to do it in Drupal, something I hadn't used before. And while there several things I would change about the website, I had to, at some point, just launch it and go with it.
As a promotion, I gave away a Garmin Forerunner GPS Watch–an awesome tool for measuring your runs and watching your pace.
Through the help of some friends, the response was pretty good–had 168 people register to win. And while I've been able to quit my day-job I haven't had anyone sign up yet, I've met some great people and think I've laid the foundation some future opportunities. I am, in training terms, building base.
Now for some provocative questions:
- Have you ever or would you ever a hire a running coach?
- What would you look for in a coach?
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.
