By Kelly Schoessling
Managing Editor
It’s no secret that students hate running during their gym classes. It’s tiring, it’s sweaty and it requires a lot of energy. Although most seem to be aware of students’ irritability with running, few seem to consider the teachers conducting this activity.
For Physical Education teachers Carrie Black and Kristen Burton, both were not looking forward to a new year of dealing with reluctant and complacent runners.
However, Black and Burton spawned a new idea to both motivate students and provide a memorable experience. Together they decided to provide the option of training their students for five kilometer race.
The 5k will be held on Sunday, Nov. 3, at 7 a.m. at Grant Park, Chicago. Registration for the race officially ends on September 13, as well as payment of a $47.97 registration fee.
Although the race is still a month away, Black and Burton’s classes have already began training for the event.
The regiment for the race consist of nine weeks worth of building both walking and jogging acceleration. If students are looking to use these training schedules during their free time, they can download the app, C25K, from their smart phones to obtain full information.
Although signing up to run the official 5K is optional, the exercise regiments will be enforced during Black and Burtons’ classes.
Both Black and Burton are extremely optimistic to see the student reactions of training,and hopefully finishing,an entire race on their own.
“I feel like running gets such a bad reputation, but I want kids to enjoy running,” Burton said. “I want my students to go out and have an opportunity to run in an organized race and see that running is not all that bad.”
Registration for the race officially ends on September 13, as well as payment of a $47.97 registration fee.
After the race is finished, all runners are awarded a ‘goodie bag,’ which includes a quarter zip hoodie. The end of the race also includes hot chocolate distribution and chocolate tasting. In addition, Burton plans on creating shirts for all the PHS participants to wear at the event.
If interested in joining the 5k yourself, contact Burton or Black to receive more information, including a coupon code for registration.
Both teachers plan on continuing this project next semester as well as annually each year. However, it all depends on the commitment of the student body.
“If we get a lot of kids [to] sign up and there’s a lot of interest, we would love to keep doing it,” Burton said.
