Nick Handrahan, Halifax and Calgary

Among friends, discovering the joy as well as the challenges of running.

I have been volunteering with Start2Finish Running and Reading for four years now. I started while at University at a club in Halifax, Nova Scotia and now volunteer here in Calgary. I love this program. Some weeks, I may have a lot going on, or I’ve been feeling stressed, but when you get to the gym all that immediately goes away. The kids are so genuine, and their energy is contagious. As soon as you arrive and the students are giving you high fives and smiling, you can feel that energy and positivity, which makes it an enjoyable environment.

We train for many months so the kids can run 5 kilometers; however, the race is so much more than running. During my time in Halifax, there was a group of four grade 5 girls who I often ran with. Some days they would work super hard and be laughing and smiling throughout. On other days they would not run, and it would be a “walking day.” I would try to get them running; however, there was no budging them as they didn’t “feel like it” that day. I understood this, some days it just feels that much harder to run, I’ve been there myself. As we got closer to the final race day, the girls were getting very excited. They spent less time walking and their running considerably improved. They were very enthusiastic about the (year-end) race. Then the day arrived.

One of the girls named Haley, not in a running mood. After the start line, she refused to run. Since they had trained together, the girls wanted to stick together. I tried to persuade the other 3 to go ahead and race while I tried to encourage Haley to run. I was not very successful. For the majority of the run, we walked. It was not the champion race; I had prepared for.

However, on the last push of the race as the crowds became bigger, and you could hear the finish line. Immediately, the girls got excited again and started running towards the finish line with all their might. The 4 of them crossed the finish line together with the biggest smiles and were all hugging each other and giving me high fives.

This was awesome. It would have been great if the girls ran the entire course; however, it was more important that they had this experience together. By forming this friendship, they were able to accomplish the course together. The joy they felt as they crossed the finish line as a group will stick with them, and it was thanks to this program and the happiness you can get from running.

There are so many small moments that make this program amazing as a volunteer. However, this one was a memory that stuck out to me as an example of how this program benefits the students individually.