Teens Run DC

Teens Run DC empowers at-risk youth to envision and work towards the achievement of personal goals through an adult mentoring and distance running program.

Based on a similar, successful initiative in Los Angeles, students train alongside teacher-mentors, who challenge and guide these youth to develop the skills necessary to achieve their running goals and their life goals.  Students learn greater responsibility, discipline, perseverance, and goal-setting skills as they train for the National Marathon and Half-Marathon.  They become healthier and feel better about themselves.  They work towards success in their running and towards success in school.  Between running leaders and individual mentors who serve as strong, positive role models and peers working towards similar goals, Teens Run DC strives to create a caring community and a sense of belonging that may be new and unfamiliar to many.  With Teens Run DC, students run steady and strong to succeed in life.

Demographics

In our first year, we had 19 students, ages 14 to 18, from Wilson High School in Northwest DC.  This group reflects a diverse student population, coming fromI all parts of DC:  13 were female and 6 were male; 7 were White; 5 were Black; 3 were Hispanic; 3 were Asian; and 1 was Middle Eastern.   To support these 19 students, we had 7 dedicated teacher-mentors.

Our Accomplishments

These students trained two to three days a week with long distance runs on weekends.  Together they participated in various 5K, 8K, 10K, and 15K races alongside and with the support of thier teachers who served as running leaders.  Our culminating events were the National Marathon and Half-Marathon and the Frederick MD Half-Marathon.  Of the 14 students who attempted the Marathon and Half-Marathon distances, all completed as did their teachers.  Two students, whether because of illness or ability level, opted instead to participate in the half-marathon relay.   They too completed.  It was a very successful year.

Next Steps

This next fall, we are expanding our program from 19 students to 50, from one public high school to four focusing on those areas where services typically are too few.  Additionally, our goal is to have individual mentors for every one to two students participating in the program.  These mentors, unlike the running leaders who typically work within the schools, will come from the corporate and government sectors, local running clubs and university settings.  These individual mentors will commit two to four hours per week to running and spending time with their mentees, typically on weekends.  In order to be more inclusive of our potential student population, including those with major weight problems and those who have been inactive for some time, we will develop a two track training program – with one track leading to completion of a half-marathon, and a second track leading to completion of one or several10K races.