Running away on the power of one

I have a friend who is a teacher at primary school. We’ll call her Mrs C. She is one of those teachers who the children will remember well after they have left school. She sees the kids and their worlds, and she cares.

And she still loves the classroom after more than 30 years of teaching.

Health, fitness, bodies – it was the topic up for discus­sion when Mrs C discovered some of her students were under the misconception that fitness was something you had or didn’t have; that some of them were just able to run fast and others couldn’t get out of the starting gates.

That was life; you were born fit or not fit.

This was truly a surprise for Mrs C, the idea that kids, at the age of 10 or 11, had little concept of fitness as a state to be attained and maintained.

It was even more of a revelation to the kids when Mrs C explained this. She could see the light dawning on their faces and hatched a plan to capitalise on this new-found knowledge. She explained how, with a bit of practise, every­one in the class could run for 10 minutes without stopping.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

One girl was not so sure. She was not a runner, nowhere near fit, it could be an embarrassment.

But the whole class had to agree – that was the deal – and with some encouragement she was on board.

On day one, the class meets under the tree in the playground. Mrs C has her iPad with the timer on display so, as the kids run past her, they can see how much time is left to run. Off they go, the timer counting two minutes and Mrs C hollering encouragement.

That first week, each fine day, the class runs for three minutes. After a few days, two or three kids are chatting together as they “run”. Mrs C reminds the entire group everyone has made a commitment to give it their all. The truculent ambling notches up to a run.

Week two and it’s a four-minute run; week three, five minutes.

By week six, it’s eight minutes, and even Mrs C is a little surprised they are still going, and not just going, they can see their 10-minute goal looming and they can see how far they have come.

What’s more, the determination to run is having unanticipated consequences elsewhere. Children who had struggled with other aspects of school can see that maybe change is possible in other areas too.

A difficult maths problem? “Well, six weeks ago, you didn’t think you could run for seven minutes, maybe you can give this problem a go.”

Kids are thinking twice about what it takes to succeed.

And parents are hearing all about the running as well. They notice the difference in their children. The kids are talking about it at home, excited about their success and the approaching victory.

And the rest of the school had noticed as well, the daily line up for the run, the timer and the lack of a finish line.

Come the day and even the school principal is on hand to see the kids achieve their goal, 10 minutes of running.

And they do – the entire class run for 10 minutes – some covering a long distance, others a short one and many in between, but they are all running.

High fives all round, everyone’s achievement is celebrat­ed. The kids are thrilled for each other.

I love that my friend did something so simple to turn around the thinking on such a crucial issue ‒ fitness ‒ and that the running continues to this day. There were minimal resources required, just the faith she put in the children and the trust they had in her, not to humiliate them.

They believed in Mrs C because she believed in them.

It is sad that at such a young age, some kids thought the simple joy of running was already lost to them. But not forever, thanks to Mrs C.