Age: 41
City you reside in: Norco, California
Occupation: Resource Specialist, CNUSD and Founder/President of The 100 Mile Club®

How did you come up with the idea of 100 Mile Club®?

I began The 100 Mile Club® during the 1992-93 school year, my second year as a classroom teacher. I taught a class for students in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade.  The students in my class were brilliant, but challenged with various learning disabilities.  They were also EXTREMELY energetic!  Some of my students were diagnosed with ADHD, some had behavior disorders, some were uninspired and angry, and some just didn’t want to be at school at all. How would my assistant, Deb Potts, and I teach these amazing children?  How could we calm, center, inspire, and energize them all at the same time?  The task was overwhelming. Not knowing what else to do, I started with what I knew best…horses.

I had been riding horses since I was 8 years old.  What I knew about horses was this:  If you have to train a high-energy horse, you often begin with a process called lunging. Lunging a horse is the process where you stand in the center of a space while you have your horse lope or trot, or even walk, around you in a circle. It teaches the horse to calm down and simply pay attention and try to do what you want him to do. It can really help to develop a good relationship between you and your horse, and to help you work together…

That was my A-ha moment.  Maybe that could work for kids!  It was worth a try.

It was an Olympic year, so the kids were really into the idea of “Olympic Gold”.  If we could help our students run to earn a gold medal of their very own, how cool would that be??  What could these kids do?  What would be a perfect balance between challenging and attainable? 

Running 100 miles seemed to be the answer. The 100 Mile Club was born at that very moment.

2. What is the mission of the club?

The Mission of The 100 Mile Club is to provide to all students the opportunity to experience the powerful feeling of fitness and TRUE personal success by Accepting the Challenge of running 100 miles at school during a single school year. These feelings of true personal success and fitness are ones that will carry a student to new levels of achievement in all areas: academics, athletics, and implementation of the valuable life skills such as those identified in the bricks of Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. 

3. What was the first club like? Did it go as planned?

The first year we implemented the 100 Mile Club, we had no idea if it would help our students or not.  We didn’t really have a plan.  All we knew was that we were going to help these kids run 100 miles and earn a medal.  Beyond that, we were simply “going with the flow” and listening to our students tell us how it should go.  We learned a LOT!  The kids ran daily that year, and most ran 100 miles (or more).

As the 100 Mile Club evolved and the years passed, we began to notice some very consistent patterns.  First, the students were calmer, mentally centered, and more teachable after running in the mornings.  At the same time, they were awake and focused.  Their blood was pumping to those muscles…especially the brain!  Next, our students’ attendance improved significantly and parents reported that their kids now loved school, and especially loved running!  The morning battle to get to school on time was now almost nonexistent because the kids wanted to get there and run. Kids also improved physically.  They lost weight, began to make better food choices, and saw their bodies as part of their total self…their body was a tool that they had to keep sharp and focused for maximum success.  Finally, our students showed improved social skills.  They saw their class as their team.  They encouraged one another, engaged in healthy competition, celebrated accomplishments, and comforted one another on those “off days”.  Our students now simply had something in common, something to talk about with one another.  So in truth, I have spent these last 16 years learning from my students as much as they have learned from me. 

4. When did you expand the club beyond the classroom?

The 100 Mile Club® spent its first 6 years only in my classroom. No one even asked what we were doing out there running every day.  Ten years ago, my husband Glen Gonsalves, began teaching at my school and wanted to offer 100 Mile Club to his students.  We ordered t-shirts and medals for his class as well as mine, and we all ran together.  It was fun, but expensive.  My husband and I paid for everything on our own.  Little by little, teachers began asking about the program and joining us.  Soon, we had over 200 kids and at our school site running in The 100 Mile Club, and a class at one other school in our district.  It got quite expensive!

In 2006, I was asked by a few service organizations to speak about The 100 Mile Club, and when I did, many presented us with donations to the program.  As a direct result of these donations, we began the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. At the same time, teachers and administrators at other schools became aware of The 100 Mile Club and began calling and inquiring about implementing the program at their schools. Little by little, schools Accepted the Challenge of The 100 Mile Club for the 2007-08 school year.  Today, we have just over 8,000 students at 16 schools in Southern California running and sharing the philosophies and ideals encouraged through The 100 Mile Club®.  We are growing fast!

5. How do you feel when you students have completed the club?

Honestly, I am thrilled when schools, parents, students, and their teachers join up and Accept the Challenge of even trying to run or walk 100 miles at school!  Just like the proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” so does the journey to 100 miles.  Some individuals finish their 100 miles, some go far beyond 100 miles, and some students don’t quite get there.  All of these individuals have one thing in common:  They all give their personal best during this process, and they learn what their personal best looks (and feels) like.

The 100 Mile Club has the potential to be life-changing for many of our students.  Many students have never completed an activity that takes such long-term planning and goal-setting.  Many students discover hidden athletic talents and go on to participate in sports and activities in high school and beyond. Others simply learn a little bit more about themselves through this journey to 100 miles and apply this new knowledge to their educations, their personal goals in athletics and beyond, and their relationships with others.  So, it really is all about Accepting the Challenge and experiencing the journey, and I am incredibly excited for anyone who takes that on.  The completion of the actual 100 miles is the proverbial cherry on the cake of it all.

6. What has been the most satisfying about the club?

For me, one of the most satisfying parts of The 100 Mile Club has been reflecting back on its evolution.  We literally worked through every bump and wrinkle first hand, learning all the way how to best reach kids through attainable physical fitness goals. 

The definition of success that we have adopted comes from Coach Wooden’s idea that you give your best when your best is needed.  When you truly work to be the very best you can be, there is a level of self-satisfaction you get…a sense of true peace with yourself and what you have accomplished.  That peace of mind, knowing you did your best to become the best you can be, is true personal success. I feel that sense of peace about what we have done with The 100 Mile Club®.  We give our best every day, as we expect our students to do.  It’s overwhelming at times to think that it has been 16 years since we started this project! 

7. What are some challenges in operating the club?

There are many. The 100 Mile Club went from 230 participants to over 8,000 in just one year!  Next year we will have over 10,000 participants, and I think that is a modest estimate. We are growing faster that I could have ever expected, and with that come many challenges.
 

First, I still teach full time, so everything that is done for 100 Mile Club is done after school, at night after my kids are asleep, or on the weekends.  All of my work with 100 Mile Clu is unpaid at this point.  There will come a time that I will not realistically be able to do both 100 Mile Club and teach all day, so the biggest challenge for me is how to shift over and make this my full-time job (since it is one already!).  The logistics piece is also a little bit difficult. My formal dining room is now my 100 Mile Club room, complete with a gorgeous chandelier right in the middle.  One of these days, I need to find an office or little warehouse to store everything.  Our final challenge is making sure to maintain a level of responsible growth within the organization.  We must always maintain a clear vision of who we are and where we want to go.  Our mission statement is our guide.  At 100 Mile Club, we always go right back to our mission statement when a question arises, and it steers us clear every time.  

**UPDATE: I am now on sabbatical from my teaching job.  I will take one more year away from the classroom on unpaid leave and continue to secure the future positive growth and development of The 100 Mile Club®.  Thank you to the Corona-Norco Unified School District for believing in this project enough to grant me another year leave.  :)
 
8. What is the most physically challenging thing you have done?

I think I am doing it right now, and I am incredibly thankful for my husband who is so supportive of me and my efforts with The 100 Mile Club®.  Running 100 Mile Club, teaching full-time, raising and loving our beautiful children, Paris (9) and Millie (4), keeping our two horses healthy and happy, and keeping up with the laundry are about all I can do.

Aside from going through pregnancies and the physical act of parenting, doing what I am doing right now is definitely the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. 

9. Do you consider yourself an active person?

I have to be an active person to get everything done!  I consider myself to be extremely active, but not in the sense that I go out to the gym every day, or run 30 miles a week.  I am a busy working mother, just like so many women out there.  I work hard at keeping it all in check. I hop on the treadmill and  do a little weight training at home when I can, I walk with my students in the mornings if I don’t have meetings, and do my best to eat right and take care of myself.  It’s tough. 

10. What do you do to wind down?

Ideally, I will settle down with a hot cup of coffee and a good book, go out and spend time with my horses, or spend a quiet day at home when everyone else is out.  Making time for myself is not one of the things I do best, but I try to take care of myself by getting my hair done, or getting a massage or a pedicure once in a while.  I’m working on it.

11. Besides family and friends who do you consider an inspiration and why?

I consider Coach John Wooden a true inspiration.  His level of steadfastness and integrity is something to which I aspire daily.  He is one of the most intelligent individuals and is the best teacher that I have the privilege to know.

Coach Wooden has been in the wide circle of my life for as long as I can remember.  My father was a basketball coach at Cypress Junior College during Coach Wooden’s time at UCLA.  The basketball world in Southern California was (and still is) quite small, so even as a very young child, I spent a great deal of time in gyms and at games all over, and (unknowingly) watching some of the best basketball players in the world.  Coach Wooden is one of the many phenomenal people I have learned from as a result of my time spent around basketball.  Coach’s Pyramid of Success is something that has been in my life as a model of success since I was old enough to walk.  Only when I became a teacher, did I discover how much his teachings truly affected me and how I live my life and teach my students.  I think of him every day, and he means the world to me as a model of how to live a pure and honest life.

12. Tell me something about you that most people don't know?

Basketball goes back in my family all the way to the 1936 Olympic Basketball Team, our country’s very first Olympic Dream Team. My Uncle Frank Lubin was the team’s starting center that year in Berlin, and he and his team brought back Olympic Gold. 

Despite basketball being truly “in my blood”, I am one of the single worst basketball players in the world.  I think basketball talent skips a generation, because my son, Paris, is quite good!