Teacher hopes to reinvent students attitude towards running

A new addition to Harvest Elementary’s teaching staff has decided to jump head first into a club that will help students now and definitely down the road.

First year fourth grade math teacher Holly Keeton has taken charge of the after school running club. She herself started her running journey in 2012 to help herself lose weight and to deal with thyroid complications. She began with a couch-to-5k plan found on the free running app: Runkeeper.

“Since then, I have used many of Hal Higdon’s training plans ranging from fast paced 5ks to marathon distances. I have ran numerous 5ks and 10ks, 12 half marathons, two marathons and two ultra marathons,” Keeton said.

Keeton wanted to be involved in the running club because she sees running as an obstacle that challenges her and makes her feel great.

“To get the children involved with running at such a young age is a great thing,” Keeton said.

Running club meets every Monday. They spend 25 to 30 minutes walking and/or running. Some students are on a walk and run plan while others are advanced enough to be on a plan where they jog and run. Each student sees how much distance they can cover in 30 minutes. There is a stopwatch at practice, so the students are able to write down how fast they go at each mile.

“Some complete one or one and a half miles, while some students are advanced enough to run a 5k distance in 25 to 30 minutes,” Keeton said. “Students and their parents also know that in order for their child to be successful, strong and injury free in the sport of running, training plans are important. Most training plans call for 3 to 4 days of running a week, whether it is only for 10 minutes or 30 minutes.”

Students voted between the Spooktacular 5k and the Galaxy of Lights 3k. The Galaxy of Lights won over the other because it would be more intriguing at night.

“I’m happy that a 3k was an option because not all of my students are at a 5k race level. The 3k was a perfect and challenging distance for them since most of them have run one or one a half miles for one of their training runs on a weekly basis,” Keeton said.

There were 13 kids who showed up to the Galaxy of Lights 3k. It was a cold and rainy race, so it was a huge achievement for students who completed the race anywhere between 15 to 25 minutes.

“I encourage my runners by reminding them that the most important person that they can “beat” in a race is themselves. Running is about challenging yourself and seeing yourself improve by speed, distance, endurance, etcetera,” Keeton said. “I was very proud of them at this race. I even had parents that joined them during the race and the students loved that.”

For a lot of the students, it was their first race. Picture this: a nine year old running a 3k in rainy cold weather, with dancing gingerbread men and airplanes landing and taking off all around them. That would a memory to keep forever.

“I feel that they gained how exciting and motivating a race can make you as a runner. I’m sure that they also noticed that young and old can and love to run, there is no age limit … all that matters is that you’re moving and staying active,” Keeton said.

• ultra marathon- 50k or any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length
• marathon-26.2 miles
• half marathon-13.1 miles
• 10k- 6.2 miles
• 5k- 3.1 miles
• 3k- 1.7 miles