In the long run
Teacher inspires her students to run 10K
By Lynn Warren CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Teacher Helene Leong and several fourth-grade students at Davis Elementary School are training to run the Monument Avenue 10K in March.

Drive by Davis Elementary School and you may very well see Helene Leong, Chesterfield's own version of the Pied Piper, leading 50 or so nine and 10 year olds around the Providence Road campus on a two-mile run.

Leong's own desire to get healthy is now inspiring her students to do the same. In fact, Leong and her fellow runners are training for a 10K this spring.

But the fourth-grade math teacher admits she wasn't always fitness conscious. Even though she has been surrounded by a circle of friends that includes serious cyclists, triatheletes and even marathon runners, she was the classic couch potato until last summer. She'd spent years "searching for my sport," she says, adding that the high point of her athletic achievements had been an occasional frame or three of bowling.

"I tried bicycling with my friends and hated it. The next hill never turned out to be the last hill," she confessed. "I did become the queen of my own personal triathelon: Swim a lap, eat a hamburger and then tackle dessert."

But, a casual Internet search late last summer transformed her from coach potato to 5K runner in just eight weeks. The online program was brilliant in its simplicity: start out with a five minute walk, jog for 60 seconds and then walk for two minutes, repeating the routine and gradually increasing the length of the phases.

Leong tried the program and found the increments bearable. "I did keep asking is it 60 seconds yet? I was still whining but not as much," she recalls.

Last September, she entered - and finished - her first competitive run during the Maymont 5K. As she crossed the finish line exhausted, disheveled and streaming sweat, she was offered a photo of her finish. She declined. "I was not going to pay for a picture looking like that," she explains, but the race did help cement her new active lifestyle.

Now, the students at Davis are helping Leong continue her momentum and vice versa. Since Leong lives in the city, there are few places where she can run safely, so she asked Principal Barbara Lowery for permission to wear her workout clothes on casual Fridays and run on campus during recess.

Unknowingly, her Friday routine began her career as a Pied Piper for young runners. After a few sessions, she casually invited her students to run with her. A few did, and as word spread, more and more fourth-graders joined her Friday sessions.

"The rule became that if you were going to participate, you had to stay with me for the entire time. You could walk, run or even rest but you could not leave the group," Leong explains.

Since Friday only sessions could be cancelled by bad weather, Leong sought a more flexible opportunity for her growing entourage. Again, Lowery was supportive and allowed Leong to move her runs to another day of the week if needed.

"Now the kids are even more involved, watching weather forecasts and helping to select what day we will run in advance," says Leong. "This gives me a whole new way to bond with my classes and has attracted a total cross-section of the students. It motivates the kids. Even the bad kids are out there running with me. It proves they can be good at something. It gives them something to brag about."

In fact, the students have become so committed they plan to participate in the Monument Avenue 10K this March. Leong views the students' resolve as an opportunity to also push her own capabilities. She intends to run the 10K while anticipating most of her fellow runners at Davis will opt for the one-mile Kids' Run.

But, a few of Leong's heartiest nine and ten year olds have insisted they will join their mentor in the 10K. After much scrambling to secure parental permission, arrange appropriate supervision during the race and secure additional training, six of Leong's legion are actually planning to run the full 10K race alongside her.

As Leong and the kids train for the 10K, she admits running has "kind of taken me over. I've bought all of the books and magazines, and I think I will run the Ashland 10K, which is about two weeks after the Monument Avenue event. After that, who knows? I might even train for a marathon."