By Julia, Grade 9
Hadassah, Red and Elin running in 5k (Julia S/ Buchhof Bulletin)
Have you ever wondered why the 5k run in grade 9 is taking place and what people think of it? Well then this is the right article for you!
The 5k has taken place on 7 June and was led by the PE department. All interviews included were from before the 5k run. It was designed to challenge 9th graders to discover their potential and what they can achieve in a particular time span. This was done by preparing the students in class for several weeks to do their best.
How people think they will feel after the run
Ever wondered how students will approach the end of the run? This paragraph tells you all about it.
“Probably plop down on the floor for a couple of mins and relax,” said Alani B., Grade 9.
She continued that she will be proud that it’s over and that she achieved something new for herself that she didn’t imagine she could have done.
Another student, Hadassah said something similar, “I will be proud of myself.”
Everyone expresses the same idea about how they will feeling after the run. I can say from personal experience that after I finished the run, I was really surprised that I could do something like that in only one hour or less. I would say after the run everyone would be relieved and happy to have finished such a hard but approachable task.
During the run, parents provided ice cream for the students to make them even happier about their success. And of course, a well-deserved break at the end will be needed!
“The goal for doing the 5k run is to push them through something that is uncomfortable and that they learn that they can achieve great things such as to push through and get to the finish line and be proud,” said Mr. Lemmers, PHE Teacher.
This shows that the goal of the 5k run aligns with what the students though they would feel after the run. This demonstrates that the PHE Department successfully communicated their goal of the 5k run to the students.
Ms Lieke also made a good point: “I think that there is not one feeling that is shared between all the students after the run because of the number of students there are.”
This is right because everyone will interpret the run differently and will feel something else but in a positive way.
How to motivate yourself
I also asked around how people might motivate themselves to run further if they feel they need to stop. I received various but similar answers from the 9th graders I interviewed.
“I will think about my bias, imagine it inside my head and be happy,” Mai W. said.
“Listen to music, I generally think music is motivating,” stated Alani B.
These quotes make clear that music is a general tool which keeps people together and motivates them in various activities, in this case running. I had no music in my run which might have caused some problems with my motivation to run the whole time. Next time you are planning to do a run, bring your air pods to enjoy a motivated and stress-free experience!
“Running has been a part of history for the human body since forever,” said Mr. Bowerman.
Mr. Bowerman is absolutely right – you can run, and you will run. It is just that maybe sometimes you cannot run anymore because of overthinking. At the end of the day, everyone will be able to run 5k with motivation of any sort. It does not matter if you think you cannot do it because you will, and it doesn’t matter how slow fast or how many breaks you take.
“Sometimes we forget that we have a forest with well taken care of trails,” Mr. Bowerman said.
Mr. Bowerman makes a reasonable point here because we are able to run in nature which also helps with calming down, focusing on your running, and keeping your cool.
“We want you to experience how an actually event like a marathon takes place,” said Ms. Lieke.
Adrenaline of the start of the run will give people the motivation to finish and push themselves to do their best and succeed.
How Students felt about a 5k run before
Before the run took place, students felt scared, challenged, but also excited. This mix of different feelings might have built up adrenaline before the run helping them to perform better.
“I feel like it’s quite challenging but it’s fun too,” said Hadassah K.
“I’m kind of nervous for that,” stated Mai W.
“I think it’s good for your stamina, like staying in shape,” said Alani B.
All these students did the run which means that you can do anything if you try hard enough.
The run itself was really challenging and I am pretty sure it was not that great for many people. But still, we did I,t and some might even have gained extra strength and determination from it, which means that it is a good unit the PHE Department should keep doing for further years.
“In lower grades, they are physically not ready to run that amount of distance at least not all,” said Ms. Lieke..
The people I interviewed might have been scared to run this kind of distance because they might not have been physically capable in the last couple of years because they were too young and didn’t have that kind of physical preparation needed.
Now that they are in 9th grade, they will find that PHE is more frequent during the week which helps to keep us physically healthy despite study stress, lets us try different sports, and enables us to run a reasonable amount of distance.
“I think students have learned a lot in this unit which they are not aware of yet. We often hear in grade 10 how that unit has made such an impact on the students,” said Ms. Lieke.
Although the people I interviewed were not really confident in knowing if they would benefit from the run the teachers say that they will, but they will just notice later. This is also supports that the unit helps students long term. It is not always the case because students are all different but for me at least it helped me in certain things which I was never good at, so I am happy that we did this unit although I did not like it so much.
“The answer is no, we cannot encourage a whole grade to be motivated in one particular thing,” said MS. Lieke.
The other side to this is that not everyone will be encouraged. Not everyone will run 5k. Not everyone will prepare. But that’s okay. Everyone should do what they like and does not feel to push themselves. But if they do, they will maybe have some little achievements in life that the others do not have. The point is to have fun and not to be forced to do anything you do not want to.
“Every student can work on their fullest potential and do what they think is enough for them,” said Ms. Lieke.