Run Club

Run Club is up and "running" this year at the Jerry Gamble Boys and Girls Club in North Minneapolis. I absolutely love getting to share my passion for health, wellness and of course sport with these kids. For those who don't know, Run Club is a program that Brian and I started 4 years ago as part of our community service project for In-the-Arena. 

Outside on a cold but sunny day.

We wanted to have a project that could measure the progress of our visits during the Spring, Summer and Fall. We decided a running program was the perfect blend of an accessible activity that was easy to track and gave us the most time with the kids each day. 

When it rains we improvise.

Sometimes that means yoga.

Our Run Club is held right across the street at the Glen Gale Park and we have a set 1/3 of a mile course that the kids run/ walk laps around. With each lap completed they receive a Popsicle stick and at the end of practice we count the number of Popsicle sticks each person collected and post the numbers on the Run Club Board inside the Club.

Running along the course.

I love seeing the kids start to form running groups each day and complete the workout together. Running is so fantastic because it is a lifelong activity that can be enjoyed alone or with others. Perhaps some of these running partners will continue running together for many years.

Running Buddies Rajenae, Christopher and Rahania.

 Once again our Run Club program is supported/ sponsored by Fruitshare Organics. We are so lucky to receive as many boxes of fresh organic fruit as we need! The fruit is delicious and has become symbolic with the Run Club as a token of achievement for completing the workout for the day.

Boxes of Organic Fruit! This week it's clementines, oranges and apples.

Hopefully enough incentive to skip the ice cream truck!

Turning in sticks for me to record.

Once back inside we spend the remainder of our time updating the board with the miles earned that day and award stickers on the board and perhaps awards for reaching a milestone. This year at the completion of 10 total miles each person will receive an LLBean water bottle that we write their name on and have them bring to practice!

Imputing the mileage onto the board.

Our top runner this year is Lebron. He already earned his LLBean water bottle.

 Overall Run Club has been a huge success and we can't wait to bring 10 of the Top performers each month to a local running race. Last year we made it to 3 races so we are looking forward to increasing that number. Thanks to all of our sponsors for making this program possible!