One last race. One last 7 am wake up. That's what happened in early April, as Youth Run had the last race of the year at the Freret 5k. It was a triumph in that all the kids finished, and apparently had a good time (free froyo at the end of the race helps with that), and as always their enthusiasm for the race led them to overestimate their abilities. A group of the girls (as a reminder, they're all 3rd and 4th graders) were adamant that they could handle an 8-minute mile pace. This proved to be a lesson in their limitations (8-minute miles were not achieved), but that didn't stop us from having a blast for the whole 5k. While they were tired through the second half of the race, we played a game of "Next", whereby everyone jogs in a line and the last person runs to the front. It worked, and all the kids ran across the finish. Like all good things that ultimately end, the goodbye was bittersweet. Last week we had our last Youth Run practice of the year, replacing
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Coffee can be a blessing. And a curse. I have wasted study time to the hyperactive jitteriness that hot, brown bean water can induce. However, early on Saturday mornings, when the body and mind haven’t quite gotten the requisite 8 hours of sleep, coffee is definitely a blessing. This is the position I found myself in earlier this month, at the Reds on the Run race. Because of past performance, Good Shepherd had been given the opportunity by Youth Run NOLA and the race organizers to bring 10 kids and race. Thus, I found myself sanctified by free coffee at 7:30 in the morning. Instead of the full 10, only three kids showed up, and thus we three coaches were able to evenly distribute ourselves amongst our runners. While I was initially a little bit disappointed that only three kids came, we coaches were allowed to hang out with the kids one-on-one. The whole experience was a ton of fun, and we could talk, run, and encourage the kids we were with while also relaxing with the know
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"Team work will make the dream work!" Three quarters of the way through the race, and this had become my mantra. This accompanied "Let's run to that light pole ahead and then we can take a walking break" as my most used phrases that morning. It was almost 9 on a warm, February, Saturday morning and, like most of my Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I was running with kids. This time was different though. This was the 504k, Youth Run NOLA's own running event! With only a little bit of the race left to go, but the finish line still out of sight, I was running low on motivational platitudes to inspire my kids on. To their credit though, 5k is no small feat for athletic adults, and can be especially daunting for a 4th grader. They were fighting, but the will to keep running was in short supply. Then, there it was. A big blue arch at the end of our sight marking the end of the race. Just like that, the race was on again. The kids all caught a second wind, and
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More kids want to do Youth Run! This fantastic news in all respects except one: I suddenly have about 15 new names to learn. It doesn't sound like much, but for me, it was a challenge. Was. I finally feel comfortably caught up with all of the new kids, partially due to my co-coaches idea for a name-learning and introduction game. The group arranged itself in a circle, and one by one we would introduce ourselves and do a quick dance to associate with our name. After the introduction, everyone would repeat the new dance and then recall all the past name/dance pairs. It was definitely silly, but somehow remarkably effective for learning so many names at once. In addition to Youth Run, this month I participated in a Habitat for Humanity build. It was cold and wet, but this Habitat build remained unique in that one of the other volunteers was going to be a recipient of the house. I don't know if she's an experienced builder, but she was on fire that day, offering to carry ever
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"Look, look, Zenaia is gonna do a death drop". I was standing in the playground at my first Youth Run NOLA practice as coach, and unexpectedly I was watching an elementary schooler attempt a dangerous looking dance move. To her credit, Zenaia pulled off the ominously named death drop flawlessly, but it certainly wasn't what I expected to witness when I first signed up. Allow me to back up a second. This wasn't a dance practice; it was definitely a running practice, but the funny thing about kids is that when you get a group of them in a playground after a day of school, they sometimes don't rush to follow instructions and instead do whatever they want to do instead. That being said, they had earned a little bit of liberty after completing four laps of the block, a whole mile covered in a pretty decent time for their age group. Another reason the death drop wasn't such a bad thing is that the kids were still having fun. It's a mental adjustment I've h
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“Oh, these right here? Imma need me some of those. Protection is key” With our encouragement, the man grabbed a handful of condoms, followed by a couple of more delicately selected insurance rubbers. “Sir, could we also interest you in…” We rapidly pitched our wares that day: low cost family dental plans, Medicare healthcare coordination, free STD checkups, free first aid courses, free granola bars; honestly not a bad haul for a Thursday morning. The gentleman was content with condoms, but assured us he’d tell his friends to stop by. Representatives from health care related organizations around New Orleans, some first year students at Tulane Med, and I had gathered to put on a health fair! People were largely attracted to our offers of free granola and water, but many were simply interested in what services we were providing. The health fair, named the Elk Place Health Spot , takes place at one of the busiest transit stops in the city, providing a vital opportunity to bring heal