A Little Push to the Finish Line

By Matthew Harris

It’s a cold Saturday morning. You probably wouldn’t want to leave the house without gloves and a hat. Coach Ro Gammon’s breath visible as she cheers on dozens of runners struggling to make it three miles to an imaginary finish line. They’re getting ready for the 10^th annual Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K. And they’re counting on Coach Gammon to get them ready by the end of March.

“My reward is seeing people achieve their goals,” said Gammon.

Gammon is a volunteer for the YMCA 10K Training Team in Midlothian. She’s been a part of the group ever since it formed in 2002. It started with a little more than 800 people and has grown from there – 2,802 in 2003 and a 3,333 this year.

She’s seen people go from walking in the 10K one year, to running in marathons. And while that may be some people’s goal, it’s not what the Saturday morning program is all about.

“If they never do anything more than a 10K, we’ve accomplished our goal, because it’s all about fitness.”

This year more than 200 people are helping with the YMCA 10K Training Team. They get people moving at more than a dozen official training groups at Richmond-area YMCAs. And when the trainers say they do it for the love of coaching and running, they mean it. Everyone’s a volunteer.

The program costs $50 to join. The cost includes the race registration fee. It also gets you into the YMCA once a week for exercise. Training team members also have access to the coaches, who give them tips, a running schedule and online support through message boards.

The Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K is now the nation’s fourth largest 10K. The Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta is the largest in the nation, with more than 55,000 runners last year. This year SportsBackers hopes to have 35,000 people participating on March 28^th. By the end of January 15,000 people had already signed up.

For many participants it’s the first time they’ve put on running shoes to actually run in years. The sweat dripping off their face is evidence after having only moved less than a mile.

Tiffany Longest stretched in a corner while eyeing her fellow runners. She’s trying to lose weight after recently having a baby.

“I wanted to do something for myself,” said Longest, a novice runner who traveled all the way from Tappahannock to train in Midlothian at the YMCA on Coalfield Road. “It’s just another way to get you going.”

There are three different levels of training. People who have some running experience are in the intermediate group. The next group is for novice runners, who may not have done any running in the past few years. The final group is for walkers, people who just want to be active but don’t have a need for speed. They won’t finish together, but they do have one thing in common, trainers who keep them moving, at least for the next few months.

A part-time personal trainer herself, Gammon’s love is getting people motivated. The former teacher says it’s in her blood.

“I just have a ball.”

She gets up before a lot of people on Saturday morning, she’s at the YMCA by 6:30. She warms up all three groups before sending them and a small group of trainers off into Midlothian neighborhoods.

Their footsteps are unmistakable. The sound of their new running shoes hitting the pavement a wakeup call for the rest of us who are trying to sleep in on Saturday morning. Their heavy breathing can be heard as they’re trying to take in the thin, cold air. This year’s groups got off to a particularly cold start.

“What really surprised me was the very first training session it was 3-degrees, 6-degrees and they came out anyway. They were excited to be here,” said Gammon.

But the runners admit they couldn’t do it without Gammon and the other trainers.

“It’s tough to imagine running in weather like this without the group there to keep you motivated,” said Jay Lequin, a novice runner who has his wife Amy there to help push him along as well.

“We like the challenge of it,” noted Amy, who also counts on the coaches to keep her moving.

That’s why the coach doesn’t mind an early morning wakeup call each Saturday leading up to the 10K. Her challenge is making people’s goals come true, and she does it mostly with simple encouragement. Her loud cheer is there to keep them going, whether they’re there to get fit, stay fit or fit in with a new group of friends.

“I get to encourage people and that’s what I love to do.”