As a true lover of the sport of running, I decided to embark upon the joys of "coaching" track and field last month, but it has developed into the "joys of coaxing my two children" out of 110 other children to run. This was certainly not the "vision" I had when I signed on and sat through that somewhat painfully long "become a coach" clinic a few weeks ago. It was painful because it was at night, 6:45 pm to 10 pm, and everyone knows I turn into a pumpkin around 9-9:30! Three hours of veritably interesting and helpful information that assured me that I was going to make a difference and impact the lives of 110 children! I received my "Coach" card! I am woman, hear me roar! Read the headlines in the local paper, "Norwood Mom and Coach, Jacquie takes Westwood T&F to victory at the 2009 Bergen County T&F events!" ..... Fade to black.....
Day one of track and field practice was picture perfect (remember those pictures that speak a thousand words my blog fans?) and I instantaneously became the proud Mama of two children that I was so sure had my "running" gene! They ran and they ran, and they confirmed my suspicions about the genes! My nightly ritual of whispering messages in their ears whilst they slept took the needed subliminal effect just as I had planned! Whispers that said things like, "you love running! you are an athlete! you are just like your Mommy!" Ok, ok, I did not and would never do such a thing!
Day two of track was not so flawless because Miss Nia started to manifest those apparent symptoms of "running dislike," very much like those I have witnessed on many people who profess to dislike running. At that moment, I temporarily pocketed my coach credentials, and whipped out my "Mommy" card instead, in hopes of using my skilled words of parental encouragement to get her to "keep trying." The mindset of a 6 3/4 year old girl may in fact be a tougher shell than that of a turtle. Her will is extremely strong, so strong that I am seriously considering returning her running sneakers for a refund!...... Gotcha! Keep reading!
On day two, Nia agonized through tons of 50 yd sprints and she felt the pain most assuredly from her head to her toes. It was cold and she was miserable. Her legs were like shivering cords of spaghetti and her facial expression declared, "Mommy I hate this!!!" In her mind, this just made no sense. Track was sheer torture, plain and simple. Everything hurt, everything itched, and that dirty 4 letter word (CANT) was her word of choice as Coach Murt even tried to coerce her to keep going!
By day 4, beknownst to us, she was cooking up a sinus infection so that she would not have to run for awhile. Wardrobe! I had to stash away the "Mommy" card, and dig and take out my "Nurse" card. Recently we just completed Day 7 of T&F, and in her own words, Nia said, "I don't think I will ever run again."
On the other hand, Nia's brother Miles did in fact inherit my running genes (I profess this to be true ..at this time) and I am basking in the moments that I get to watch him run. He is feeling the pain, but he gets it. He loves to talk while in he runs because he realizes it distracts him from focusing on his body, and quite frankly, just like me, he is a sociable little thing! I finally was able to put the "Mommy" and "Nurse" cards back in my pocket and whip back out the "Coach" card, and play my role effectively, encouraging Miles and the other kids while they dig deep inside to challenge themselves.
It's all about the breathing, the stride, the posture, not pounding, and the most important part, the mental aspect of learning how to talk to yourself and say "I am going to keep going... I can do this." It's about maintaining a comfortable pace, and not worrying about what the next guy is doing and just learning about yourself and what you can strive for each and every time. Miles is realizing this better and better every week, though in true Miles form, he still complains in between, much like many adults do when they work with a personal trainer. So no, he is not smiling and sailing through the practices but that is a GOOD thing. He is starting to ascertain that diligent work breeds rewards in EVERYTHING we do in life! He is also realizing that he is stronger than he ever thought he was and this will inevitably facilitate his positive growth to full maturity.
As far as Nia is concerned, I am not done with her. We will keep at it since I am not a quitter! And a quitter does not give birth to other quitters... right ? (Smile) For now, she does her warm up drills very well, and we walk lots, until she disappears to the car with her father to watch a movie! Today she told me that when her head stops hurting (from the sinus infection) she will run like crazy! We can only hope! Stay tuned since T&F can possibly last until August!
The more you run, the more you will run!
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