Running 13.1 miles isn’t easy, but for 15-year-old Troy, a student at the San Diego County Probation Department Reflections School, it really wasn’t that hard.
“It’s like when I run, it releases all my stress. I feel like I’m not on probation anymore,” Troy says.
Last Sunday, Troy’s teacher and a County probation officer were up early to run together in America’s Finest City Half Marathon. Troy completed his first half-marathon in a respectable 2 hours and 15 minutes.
The teen was ordered by a court to attend Reflections, a La Mesa-area school run by Probation and the County Office of Education. Some of the students at the school have committed serious felonies and all of them have emotional issues such as anger problems or just being unable to deal with stress.
More than a year ago, some probation officers and teachers started a running club to help kids like Troy find an outlet and give them a connection with the staff.
Teacher Cindy Stallo says in the short time that Troy has been in the program, his attendance and outlook have changed for the better. Stallo and Deputy Probation Officer Michael Rolan, who help oversee the club, ran in Sunday’s event with Troy.
At the end of it, Rolan and Stallo, both avid runners, were quite tired, but Troy complained just slightly about some blisters on his feet.
Although it wasn’t too hard for Troy, he is proud of his accomplishment. It is the longest distance he’s ever run and he’s never run in a timed race, so he was happy he was able to do it. He especially liked how everyone cheered him on during the race.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just seeing them accomplish something,” says Stallo. “At the end, they’re just beaming and it gives them an opportunity to see they can do it. That they’re actually good at something.”
Rolan, who helped start the running program, says running a race helps build a kid’s self-esteem.
Running also helps teach kids to master pain as a runner, says Rolan. Most of the kids in their school have been through various traumatic events in their lives that caused them pain, he says. As runners they are voluntarily accepting some physical pain. That can be a valuable skill for some of the kids at the school, he says.
“So, you can master it, you can overcome it with the strength of your mind,” Rolan says. “There comes a point where you just accept the pain and it doesn’t even bother you anymore, you keep doing it and the pain just goes away. It definitely shows them that they can do things that they didn’t think they could do.”
Rolan says the Reflections staff members are all very proud that Troy ran such a long distance and they have high hopes that he might want to train to run a full marathon next year. If he is still in the program, Rolan says they will try to have him sponsored to cover his entry fees.
Some students don’t have adequate running shoes or clothes and can’t afford entry fees. So, staff at Reflections reach out to race organizers to ask for entry fee discounts for their students, Stallo says. But even with discounts, staff members are always trying to raise funds to help sponsor the kids who want to run in a 5K, 10K or longer distance race.
Only one other running club student has ever run a half-marathon and that other teenager did it after leaving the program. For that former student, running changed his course, Rolan says. The student, Darius, sometimes comes to visit staff. He is running track and playing football at a regular high school now and is doing well.
Success stories like Darius’ are what motivate staff to keep the running program going, Rolan says.
