Running Club

Running Club is an introduction to cross-country running and is open to all students in grades six through eight. We practice on Monday and Friday after school, and Wednesday morning before school.  All 6th through 8th graders are welcome, and no "cuts" are made in forming the team.   In Running Club, we focus on correct running form, speed, endurance, strength and flexibility.  We include lots of drills like "the crooked ladder,"  "suicides," "strides," "Sumo squats" and so on.  We also run stairs, run the field, run around the school, run around the block, run around the bigger block, and so on! 

The goals set out for the students are three-fold.  First, they are striving to keep their bodies healthy and strong.  They are reminded that their bodies belong to God, and therefore they should keep their bodies in good shape so that they can serve God well in this world.  Second, each student is working on earning a marathon medal.  To earn the medal, they need to accumulate 26.2 miles of running, which is the amount of miles in a real marathon.  Most students succeed at this goal by the end of the season. The last goal is, of course, quite obvious, and that is to get faster!  Each student works to improve his or her speed during the season, and is tested regularly on a mile and a half run to gauge their progress.  The cross-country meets are the real tests of their progress, in which they race against students from other schools in 1 1/2 mile races. 

I have been coaching the Running Club since 2004, and greatly enjoy running for my own pleasure and health.  I log 20-45 miles per week, depending on the season, and enjoy entering local races.  In addition to running 5K and 10K races, I have run the Chicago Marathon eight times.  I am by no means a fast runner, but occasionally earn medals in my age division.