One of the most boring cliches- in my humble estimation - is the term "out of the box". You know, stuff like "oh, let's really try to think out of the box". How many corporate meetings have you hear that at?
Well today, I'm happy but slightly embarrassed to have to use that term. Tonight, we had a wonderful Teens Run Yonkers training session and a lot of it was due to willingness to think out of the box. The reality of what we do is that we are always looking for new volunteers - great and inspiring adults that are willing to commit the time to help train - and sometimes simply be there for our teen runners as they train for races. A truly valuable, and hopefully rewarding endeavor...
Many times when I advertise, I get runners interested in spending time with young people. Sometimes, I attract people that are great with teens and are eager to run a marathon for their first time, just like our young people. And once in a while I find myself speaking with someone with some skills that fall somewhere in between.
A few weeks ago, I was talking to a potential new volunteer (names left out to respect anonymity). This individual let me know that he had a fitness training background and was presently on a no carb diet. Honestly, I'm thinking to myself, as I heard the no-carb part, what is he doing here? I mean everyone knows long distance running=carb intake.
Yet, the more we talked, the more I appreciated his enthusiasm for what we do. And the more I wanted to include him and wanted to figure out a way for him to be a part of it. We came up with the idea of having him do some strength training/core training before the run.
Well, after a few weeks that went by due to a variety of circumstances, this gentleman joined us tonight for our training....Huge Hit!(in my estimation). Typically, we start off with some stretching and warm-up. Not tonight. We kicked off with team push-ups, balance push-ups and finally some squat thrusts that I'm embarrassed to admit my 47 year old body Just Said NO to. But all in all it rocked! And what a great way to kick off a run.
So, truly out of the box on adding something new. And well worth the cliche!
Good night!
Oh right, Seinfeld related. Ironically, I was watching Seinfeld this morning while doing a treadmill tempo run (I'm evening things out from my Teens Run on the tmill and not feeling too guilty about it), I was watching the one where Jerry's parents employ a personal trainer for him. Little bit of multi-program trivia for you. Who was the trainer and better yet, who plays him? What other TV show did that actor make famous? And what spoof movie was the actor in? And, what is the final exercise that the trainer has Jerry do that doesn't end well?
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