Melissa's Place

Mo of the Learn to Run Club

In looking back at my blogs, I am trying to figure out what pseudo-name I gave little Mo of the Learn to Run Club in its earliest stages. I can’t seem to find the blog and I’m wondering if I decided not to write the earlier blog for fear it would seem insensitive (that never stopped me before).

Anyway, today’s events really made me giggle and I only hope I can aptly paint the picture.

Mo is a chunky little grade 7 boy. He and Jen had a conversation during one of the first Learn to Run Club runs (now I KNOW I wrote about this) in which he complained that he didn’t even like to walk quickly, let alone run, because his heart rate went up and that was uncomfortable.

This little dude persisted for a few weeks and plodded along next to me. Despite his seeming lack of motivation to run on his own time, he was determined to make me “run” the full prescribed distance of the day with him regardless of how long it took or how much I was afraid he might hyperventilate and die next to me. We would run for the distance between two driveways and walk for a block then run for the distance between two Conservative Party lawn signs then walk for another block. During this time he taught me all about Ramadan and going on pilgrimages and this holy place where all your prayers will be answered immediately.

But then the distances got longer and little Mo just didn’t show any more. Truthfully, we were a bit relieved – partly afraid of the liability and partly afraid of having to spend more than two hours doing 5k.

This week marks the end of the Learn to Run Club for the season. We’ve got our goal race this coming Saturday. I had some information for those who had registered, so I posted an announcement going out to all those Learn to Run Club members who are registered in the Santa Shuffle for this Saturday. I asked them to meet me at the beginning of lunch.

So I was walking in the hall on the way back from lunch when who should I run into in the hall but Mo! And he looked at me and hurriedly says, “I forgot to come to the meeting!”

I looked at him and said, “Pardon?”

“I forgot to the come to the Learn to Run Club meeting at lunch!” he said.

I said, “Mo! You forgot to come to the Learn to Run Club for the past two months.”

And do you know what he said to me? He said, “Well. It got cold.”

I couldn’t help but grin.
And then I added, “And you didn’t let me know that you were interested in doing the Santa Shuffle this Saturday. You’re not registered, Mo.”

And he said (as if to convince me of his conviction), “I’ll come out the Learn to Run Club on Thursday!”

“Mo. There is no Learn to Run Club on Thursday. I have parent-teacher interviews." (You crazy, crazy little boy! Do you really think running once is going to prepare you for a distance that could very well make your body seize into one giant pretzel?)

He looked at me with puzzlement.

“Why don’t you try again in the spring, big guy.”

Actually, I didn’t say the words “big guy”. I only thought them.
I also thought, now there is one little man with very little self-awareness.