See full article here by Catherine Anaya
What physical education teacher Mindy Przeor teaches dozens of her elementary school students about running comes from experience.
“I’ve been running since 2007,” she said.
Przeor is a marathon runner and tri-athlete. When funding for after-school programs was stripped shortly after she started teaching at Brinton Elementary School in Mesa, she turned to what she knows.
“I decided to just stay after school. We’ll have a free running club. It’s something everybody can do. We don’t need a lot of equipment, a whole lot of space. We just get kids moving,” she said.
The Brinton Running Club grew from a few dozen kids in 2008, running a 1-mile fun run at the end of the season to nearly a hundred students. Some, such as 11-year old Owen Grant, have completed a half marathon.
“Once you’ve run a half marathon, you think you could run anything almost and it makes you feel real good,” he said.
Setting and accomplishing a goal is one of the life lessons Przeor incorporates into her program.
“When they finish an event and they get their medal, all of a sudden they have that I can do anything feeling… you can do anything you put your heart to and believe in yourself,” she said.
Przeor has had to get creative with community partnerships to provide the kids with uniforms, running shoes and race fees at little or not cost to their parents.
She’ll go bigger this April by hosting a 5K race/walk with proceeds supporting her running program and similar ones at other Mesa public schools.
“I get a lot out of just watching the kids do things and push themselves and do things they never thought they could do,” she said. “I can’t even express the feeling of just watching them cross the finish line and the smiles on their face.”
Fourth-grade student Evania Acosta, who recently completed a 10K race, agreed.
“It was amazing. I went to my mom and hugged her and started crying,” Acosta said.
The Run 3rd 5K Race/Walk will take place April 11, 2015 at Red Mountain High School in Mesa.
Click Run 3rd 5k for more information about running the race, sponsorship or donations to the program.
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