Spring is a great time to get outside and enjoy the sun and fresh air. Students can take advantage of the weather by getting into or staying in shape while earning credits doing it. The physical education’s running department is offering courses for the novice or aficionado runner.
A group of instructors will bring years of running experience and accomplishments to four classes for students of varying abilities. Though three of the courses have been offered before, there is a new two-credit 5k Training course, which will likely get running enthusiasts’ pulses racing.
Becky Sisley, a professor emeritus in physical education, said she is proud of the running instructors who will teach the spring classes.
“There are instructors from many different backgrounds with an array of personalities,” Sisley said.
For example, two recent college grads, former Duck Marie Davis and Carleton College alumnus Dan Schofer, will take over the beginning-level courses. Sisley and Joe Henderson, a journalist who writes on running and fitness, will teach 5k courses geared for runners ready to develop racing skills.
Davis will be teaching one of the two lower-division Jog-Run courses. Davis ran both cross country and track and field in her four years at the University. She was a six-time All-American, with three of those times in cross country. She was also the 1999 Pac-10 champion in the 3000-meter run.
As accomplished as Davis is, she expects just the basics from students who decide to take her class. Her priority is for students to show up with an open mind.
“The goal is to provide students with an opportunity to get out the door and run, while receiving specific workouts,” Davis said. “My goal as an instructor is to hopefully have the students enjoy running and take with them some valuable tools that will help them continue their own running program in the future.”
Dan Schofer will teach the other Jog-Run course. Schofer was a two-time captain of the men’s cross country team at Carleton College in Minnesota. He was also an All-Conference runner for cross country.
Schofer, much like Davis, knows many students will come to his course with little running experience. But by the end of the course, students should be able to create their own running programs, he said.
“It’s geared toward people who have not been in a running program before,” Schofer said. “I hope it gives them motivation to go out and run.”
For experienced runners, Sisley will teach a two-credit, upper-division class, 5k Training II. The course will meet three times per week for 70 minutes, instead of the traditional two days per week for 50 minutes.
“It is a structural training program allowing to improve race performance,” Sisley said. The added benefit of taking the class, Sisley said, is that people can make friends and feel good about themselves. The only prerequisite is that students be able to run four miles at an eight-minute-per-mile pace.
Sisley has 35 years of running and teaching experience. She has been the world champion for the last three years in the Master’s Track & Field Championship for pole vault; senior participants from around the world compete in the championship.
Henderson will lead the other 5k Training course, a one-credit class similar to Sisley’s.
Runs in the class will be no longer than 3 to 4 miles. Some days the class will concentrate on doing long runs, while other days will be geared toward speed.
Henderson has 40 years of experience as a journalist writing and editing running-related articles. He was the managing editor from 1970-77 for Runner’s World magazine. He has written 22 books on running and fitness and is currently working on “The Running Encyclopedia.”
Henderson said he believes his course is important to students’ health and physical well being. “It’s important to improve [running] performance,” Henderson said. “This is a time when exercise habits are formed.”