Taking My Students to Their First Race

If you have been reading my blog since the beginning you probably know how important running is to me, and that I have introduced it to my students. Since last year, my students and I have run every Tuesday after school. We run through the village, around the soccer field, and greet gogos (grandmother), friends, parents, and neighbors along the way. Sometimes it's difficult to run because of greeting, we are given water, cool drink, and chips, which halts our runs to sometimes only a kilometer.

Thanks to friends and family members who sent me money for "Sport Bras to Support Hope" I have been able to buy shorts, sports bras, and now enrollments to take my students to a race day. I decided on taking three of my most dedicated students to a race at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, and enroll them in a 5k race.

The week before the race, I chose three of my runners to come and run. We went to their homes, and told their guardians (a mother, a grandmother, and an older sister), that on Saturday they were coming to Polokwane with me to run a race. Every day leading up to the race, I reminded the three students that they needed to be ready and waiting at the school at 5am.

When Saturday rolled around, I was lucky enough to have Clayton drive to my village to pick up the three students. The whole way there, I was worried that they wouldn't be waiting and that we would have to navigate around the village to find them, and wake them up. When we pulled up to the school, there they were waiting and ready.

As the race began (we ran a 5k), one of my students took off running, while the other two decided to run together to make sure that neither of them fell behind.

When the race finished, they were all extremely proud of themselves, and were ecstatic about getting a medal.

After the race, we went to the game reserve, where we went for a drive. Then they played on the playground, and I let them borrow my bike. When it became too hot to be outside, I cooked pap and chicken, while my students watched Frozen.

At 3pm, it was time for them to go back to their village.  They all expressed how much they loved the race, and spending the day at the game reserve. They asked if they could come again for the next race, but with so many students being a part of running club, we'll just have to see how many races we have left.

 

Pictured: Three of my learners proudly showing of their medal. 

Pictured: My learners proudly standing next to Clayton (who also ran 5k)!

 

Love my sweet students!

Pictured: My students after they met a few of my friends who also ran the race. 

So thankful to have been able to make this race day happen. My students wore their medals the next Monday at school. The most wonderful part of the race, was that Lucia came in 3rd place for girls in her age group. Sadly since there was no prize given to a 5k race, so she wasn't recognized, but it has given her motivation to train for a 10k, to see if she can place in the next race!