It's time I get started

As my dear seniors of the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School Class of 2011 near graduation, it is about time I start my own senior project product.  Every school year I have the honor of working closely with a small group of seniors on their senior projects.  I get to learn about all kinds of crazy topics from the culture of ski bums, watchmaking, Brazilian favelas, to the psychology of serial killers.  This year I proposed my own senior project around the essential question "How can I become a faster runner?"  While I was not nearly as successful as my students on the research and product portions of the project, I did make tremendous strides in both becoming a faster runner and completing the benefit requirements of the project.

During the senior project, each senior is required to complete a senior project that includes an essential question, a research project, a product and a benefit. The benefit must be connected to their project topic and benefit others in a small or large way.  My benefit was to design a free race series for area runners.  This idea first came up when I decided that for my product I would run a race each month and demonstrate progress each month.  As my student know me, I can be quite a cheap-skate.  I did the math and realized that the entry fees of these races might add up quickly.  I didn't really want any more race t-shirts and because I have young kids I couldn't always be sure to fit in a race each month if most of them are run during the middle of a weekend morning.  My solution?  I began my own free race series located five minutes from my home the first Sunday of each month.  It would be a free race, early in the morning without any frills. No official time, no race t-shirts, no hardware, no water, no bananas.  Nada.

The No Bananas Race Series is over six months old.  Each month we have had more runners, faster times and more fans.  Most importantly we have had a new 5k runner almost every month.  This is especially exciting for me because when I can help provide an experience for someone to challenge themselves in running farther or faster, then I feel like my running is benefiting others.

So what is the future of this blog if I really should have wrapped up this senior project a couple weeks ago?  I think this blog will be about sharing the monthly race results and exploring how this teacher, mother, runner and race director learns and continues growing through the eternal senior project which is life.

First Ever No Bananas 5K Race in November

May No Bananas 5k Race