Professional Running Cheerleader?

Today was the Moment of Truth for my Learn to Run Clinic.  We've been training together, little by little, over the past 10 weeks and this morning was the crew's first 5K.  A couple of girls sped up and went at their own pace, which was awesome to see, and I stayed with one runner, R, who reminds me a lot of myself when I was starting out. Her goal was to finish in under 45 minutes, and we did that with 5 minutes to spare.  She was ecstatic to cross the finish and I was thrilled to see her suckerpunch a personal hurdle.

I don't think I'm a great coach for a group.  I worry that I'm running too fast or too slow for individual clinic participants (and you are always running either too fast or too slow for somebody).  But I really enjoyed solo runs with the 1-3 ladies in the group who needed a bit more cheerleading.  I like the one-on-one.  I like telling funny running stories to help them pass the time between splits.  I like promising them that they will not, in fact, die, if they run another 4 minutes.  And I love watching that transformation from person-who-can't-run-one-minute-without-gasping to person-who-just-ran-three-miles. That's a marvelous leap in 10 weeks and I feel humbled that I got to be a part of it.

I do wonder sometimes what I would do if I wasn't nerdily in love with All Things Energy.  I'm genuinely challenged, inspired, and supported in my current job and energy regulation is something I find fascinating (I know, it's weird to be enthralled by administrative and utility law but somebody has to enjoy it, right?).  But I love other things, too, such as baking, writing, and running.  And the more I run with other people, especially those who are just starting out, the more I feel like I would be a good little professional running coach.  Not a coach for elites (hahahahahahahaha), but a coach for the "normals" out there.  People who, like me a few years ago, are frustrated by their lack of athleticism and decide that the only way to remedy the issue is to get moving.  I'm a good cheerleader for those who've forgotten how to cheerlead themselves.  I'm not sure how I'd describe that on a resume, but I think it's a skill worth developing.

Way to go, my intrepid crew of Runners!  I hope to see y'all rounding the corners of Lake of the Isles this summer!