Learn to run, again

OK, so last night I wrote about how I’m taking on a new responsibility of sorts. At the end of last Sunday’s run, the manager of my local Running Room asked me if I was interested in teaching the next Learn to Run (LTR) clinic. I kind of scoffed at the idea.

Me? Mr. Penguin? Waddle waddle waddle?

She told me that I would be a good fit. Apparently my various coaches had passed my name around as a suggestion due to my determined nature and consistency in training. I’m certainly glad that people have taken note of my dedication, but seriously, I didn’t think I had the confidence to take on teaching a group of newbies how to run well enough to tackle their first 5K event. I told her that I’d think about it. That whole day my mind was swimming with thoughts of what it would be like to teach the clinic. Would I be enthusiastic enough? Would I have enough to offer? I big part of me knew that this was something that I would be really good at, but at the same time I was feeling like I might come off as a poseur of sorts. So, come Tuesday, I was still unsure whether I was a right fit.

After Tuesday’s run, I ended up talking to the associate manager of the store. She was the one teaching the current LTR clinic. She did a good job convincing me that teaching the clinic would be a totally fun experience. I mean, at that point everyone is just excited and looking for any info they could get. I said that I truly would have a lot to offer the new runners. Oh GOD, I have my share of successes and failures. As well, she pointed out that since I’m training for half-marathons, going through the LTR program shouldn’t be an issue at all. I guess I’d agree–it starts out at one minute running plus two minutes of walking. After all of that, I told her that I was 95% ready to commit to teaching the clinic, but that I needed another night to mull it over. She agreed.

By the next day, I decided to just dive in. I told the manager that I would do it. She seemed very happy, and that made me feel great. So yeah, it’s a done deal, isn’t it? I’m now teaching the LTR clinic at Markham Running Room starting on May 11! Oh Lord: that’s one day after my half-marathon in Mississauga. I hope I can handle it.

Over the process of the clinic, I’ll be writing about some flashbacks to when I was starting out with my running. If you’re interested, you can go back right now by checking out my “running logs” category. To read about what I was experiencing when I was starting out, you’ll have to go back to May 2007 entries, which are at about page 12 of the category. Reading and re-experiencing what I went through back then, it really amazes me just how far I’ve come. It makes my heart swell with pride.

Possibly related posts:

1. The first clinic night
2. Some notes from before my run
3. Teaching, yet again