Running with LACS student group

by Steve Vanek

To foster greater appreciation of running among young people in our community, Peace Trot organizer Tom Joyce worked with the Lehman Alternative Community School (LACS) during these late winter months to take a weekly run on Ithaca’s wonderful Cass Park and Waterfront Trails.  I’ve joined the group for three of their weekly meetings, and they have been a courageous bunch, as anyone who runs in an Ithaca winter knows: coming home with soggy feet from the windswept expanses seems to be a given, and for those new to running, keeping an even pace for a few miles while facing the inevitable aches and pains of a new physical activity has taken real courage.  Some of the best times we’ve had have been dividing into teams and running short relay races where we cheer each other on, allowing the creativity and supportiveness of the LACS community to shine through.  As I am reminded of my own first experiences with running as a middle school student in Ithaca decades ago, a reflection/mantra on running as a microcosm of life comes to me: “we run to be together, we run to be outdoors, we run to look out for each other, we run because any run enlivens our bodies and our minds, we run to leave it all behind, we run to visit our communities, we run to overcome, we run to challenge each other.”  Maybe you out there have your own phrase to add to this mantra as you take on your daily run, walk, bike ride, or other efforts in life. For me, the peace trot is celebration of this microcosm of life as running, refracted into the messages of peacemaking that Peter DeMott spoke for, and the Ithaca Catholic Workers and groups like them around the world continue to bring us.
 
Thanks so much Tom for organizing this LACS group!