Lessons From the Grasshoppers

 For the past four summers, I have been an assistant coach for a local kids running program called Grasshoppers. It’s through Columbus Running Company and I have loved doing it since I signed up my senior year of high school. I get to share my passion for running with kids and coach with new and old friends. Being a part of this program has brought me some fun times and interesting memories. I’ve had conversations with 2nd graders that I’ve never expected and the occasional sassy remarks from 6th graders who are ready to be done with the program. Grasshoppers has also brought some lessons or things to think about, particularly this week. 

On Monday, we had a mile time trial so we warmed up with the kids and got them ready to run. Everyone got on the line, the coaches joined the kids to encourage them and pace, and then we started. As a track runner myself, I love the mile so I enjoy it when the kids do time trials. Two laps in, a particular kid was walking a lot and crying. I stopped next to him to ask what was wrong, his chest was hurting some and he had a bad side stitch. It happens often but stinks. Being new to running and just young kids, some of them don’t drink or eat enough before, or the kids get too excited and take off running a lot faster than they can manage for a whole mile. 

We talked through the pain, but he was still having a rough time. He didn’t think that he could run anymore so I tried to convince him to finish this lap and be done. Through his small sobs, he told me how if he didn’t finish the mile, he would be a failure and disappoint everyone. He went on to talk about how slow his time would be and that he was going to finish much later than everyone else and it would be embarrassing. I tried my best to encourage him, that he was here and still showed up today. I told him that he was trying his best and that’s what mattered today, we had many more runs coming up and today was just the beginning of the season. 

Eventually, I got him to calm down and to stop at three laps. The rest of the evening, I kept thinking about how it saddened me to hear an eight-year-old talk himself down like that. Then, I thought about how I do the same thing at the ripe age of 21. There are a lot of times that I am disappointed in my running performance and I beat myself up over every detail, everything  I could’ve done better. But that’s not the point of training! The point is to focus on what you’re doing right and look at your progress, lift yourself up, and keep moving forward. The hard days make the reward even better. 

So I guess the point of this blog post was that sometimes I need to give myself grace and can learn something from working with the grasshoppers. Why should I discourage others from talking to themselves negatively and allow myself to beat myself up? I think if we were as kind to ourselves as we are to others, then we would have more joy, progress, and gratitude for every day and not just the great ones. 

That's all I have for now,

Abby