Self Confidence Through RUN3rd Alliance – Mindy Przeor | Episode 5

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the quest for new inspiration. Yes, it has been a while, but O L and for the ten of you who are actually subscribed to this podcast. You probably look here on this week’s episode. I was honored to sit down with mind frick, who is not only a pe teacher, but she is also one of the CO founders of the wrong third alliance. She is seriously impacting hundreds and hundreds of kids and I can’t wait for you her her story. I’ve not like listening to other people. I E man, people have good stories. It’s not really about, like stories are best, it’s just really about sharing people that we there’s so many people like Kevin Story. I had no idea about any of that and like no idea level athlete and yeah where he came from and just everything I would never ask him that, and just I love hearing people’s stories and even the smallest thing can like help. People either come out of their box very relate and just yeah the understanding realization that everybody does have a story yeah. So that idea that yeah- oh I’m, the only one struggling with this- or I I like like now- every like everyone’s got something that’s my favorite part why I started it and why I want to share because yeah I so I’m Mindy Braser and I hello and welcome teach elementary P and have recently started up a non profit called run third alliance. So I just a little background about myself, so I came from house with a single mother who worked all the time I was adopted and so kind of growing up. I just always had that desire to really find somewhere that I belong because I mean I love my mother dearly and she absolutely did her best, but she was gone all the time out of need to provide and so growing up that way, and then I think just and then the adoption piece on top of it. I was always kind of searching for. Where do I really fit in and kind of wears my place and who am I and so growing up? I grew up in a pretty like religious community, so I kindo turn to religion and use sports and different things, and in that and found that a place where there were rules- and I could just follow. I was very much a people pleaser and an achiever. So, okay, I followed the rules and then I have a group of friends and it definitely got me through the high school years staying out of trouble and on the right path, but once I got into college I realized. I didn’t really know who I was because I was always following other people’s rules and expectations and what people were saying I should be doing so then yeah. I was just kind of his thisere and I got into college and sort of realized that part about me. It was almost that feeling of being a little delayed from the rest of the world and just that much curdy and growing up and knowing who I was and what I wanted to do. Thankfully I found my husband in college. We started dating in college, got married right out of college and he is kind of the perfect balance to my people, pleasing rule. Following he’s a little more of like that confident free spirit, you know it. Let’s not worry about what other people think of us. Let’s just go, do what we want to do, and so it’s been a really good balance in a chance for me to truly explore and find myself and feel unconditionally loved and then realizing. That’s not how I felt growing up. I felt like there was always a condition to me, belonging in being accepted was I had to follow these rules so kind of learning to overcome that and then, as we got older and team sports were gone and started, putting on that kind of weight after college of now. What do we do found running and I think all of it was kind of that perfect storm helped me really find myself and set goals for myself and push myself and overcome things and find out what I was made of and through running just learned. So many lessons about me and realized man. This would have been such a neat gift to have as a kid to like team sports are fantastic for so many things, but there’s something about the individual endurance that has such a different concept of self and so being a B teacher. It gave me the perfect platform to start an after school running club because it had it was in two thousand and eight when kind of everything was pashing and all funding was taken away and use sports from elementary schools were being pulled, and I was like hey. You know what I can do this with very little funding and so got the kids out running and started developing a curriculum that was just really based on getting tonote themselves in that confidence and setting goals for themselves and being proud of their accomplishments and finding their reason for doing something and then taking ownership in it, because in running like, if I want to hit a seven minute mile, I have to put in the work- and I don’t make it I can’t play. But on my team mates, I can’t blame it on my wreath. I can’t blame it on anything. It really comes down to did I do do it or didn’t I and starting to just own that piece, and it was really neat to see the kids start developing these yeah. Just this different perspective on life and on themselves and on what they were capable of doing. We started doing five ks and then it moved up to ten pays and then I had kids at like ten one years old who were asking to do half marathons and I’d sit down and talk to him like okay, you realize like this is a big big deal and I hol, but they would come on Saturday mornings and put in long miles and it started off with like when we s went to the ten P starter with okay, there were a few parents who would be like okay, go ahead and then same thing. The Haman, then, then, all of a sudden when other parents started seeing that these kids were succeeding in the kids, saw other kids succeeding it just kind of snowball in our running plug group, from like ten or fifteen kids to within a few years. We were like eighty kids in the running club, and it was just so nee the pride that they had in what they were accomplishing and how it translated to the classroom to behavior to everything else. Like all of a sudden. They were in control of themselves. They could set big goals, they could overcome obstacles, they like there was just a whole different feel in the community and so and then, through my running with my husband, we would do run Disney events and travel and get involved with other things, and we met Sean Aston it through run Disney and in two thousand and twelve he started a mission statement. That’s I run first for myself and a second for my family. I run third for you and the idea of it is the Irun. Third, for you is. I can take on dedications of anybody. I don’t just have to pick one cause and run for it like if you say, Hey, I’m having a rest day today I can say: Hey, you know what I’m going to go, get a few miles and just kind of keep you with me and and I’m there for you, I’m thinking about you, I’m doing this or if I’m having a day, I can reject somebody like hey I’m injured today I can’t get out and like can you run a few miles for me like just an idea of connecting, and it doesn’t need to be a huge thing that you’re running for just keeping somebody in your heart and he ran the La Marathon and had a whole list of it was a twitter campaign. So he had a whole list of people on twitter. Who Said Hey? Can you run third for this and you rather, for that, can you do and so, as we got to know him in two thousand and thirteen, he was looking for ways to going to grow that community and I had gotten to the point where the running club had become successful, but I was looking for more to do with it and in talking we realized. It was such a perfect like marriage of ideas, because I’d been working so hard on that run, first piece that I was like now what and so I had kind of the curriculum set for I run first for myself and now, let’s bring in the families and let’s get more involved in the community and show the kids how to build relationship and give back, and so that’s where we went with it. So it turned into a run third carric with the kids, and so now they first we always start with that run first for me, because I can’t help other people. If I don’t take care of myself, so I need to keep myself healthy. I need to set those boundaries and know what I need and then I need to have a solid foundation of people. I care about there, my family and I need to Fostelle relationships, and I need to show appreciation for those people, and now we can really impact the community and give back and help others, and so, at the end of our year, we hosted annual run Third Five K where the kids get to come out and invite the whole community and all the schools with our program come together and run the IK partially as a fundraiser to raise funds for our next school year, but then, mostly for that outreach and chances for the kids to share who they’re running for what they’re doing and share it with the community and get other people involved in. It’s just been really fun to just kind of see this grow and progress and organically. Like no that’s incredible, I o that I’m seriously impressed that’s awesome. So what would be your advice just as someone who doesn’t her favoral love to run? What kind of motivation would you give to someone like that? Who would still like I love this idea, but like would love to be involved? What kind of motivation are like? How would you help them get involved so one if it, the people in for kind of ways to be active and do things it’s not limited to running. It could be like go out and ride by go out and walk. It’s kind of it’s called run. Third, but the idea is getting on doing some miles or doing some steps for somebody else that in mind, but other ways to get involved and help the kids is. We do have a scholarship program where people can donate to help the kids get into the program into the Five K if they can’t afford it and other ways to volunteer at the event and- and that’s kind of where we’re at right now is just working on the growth of it and how many schools can we reach out to and really what do? We need, of course, that right we have six people on our board of directors and everything is volunteer based. So we’re still at that very like new growth level and looking for ways to get out there and impact as many people as we can, but as far as a people are looking even to be able to do a five pay and don’t care much for running or don’t consider themselves around her, we do the Jeff Gallery run, walk run with the kids, and so we have little timers and we said goals for the kids, like okay, we’re going to run for thirty seconds, and then we walk for thirty seconds and then we run from and then we build it up to where it’s like. Okay, now we’re going to run for a minute now we’re going to run for two minutes trying to grow it that way, and that’s the biggest thing for getting the kids to be able to do longer, distance and honestly adults. It’s the same way like anyone, who’s getting started, adding in those walk breaks before you need them and huge and part of it’s that mental. Like wait, I don’t need to watch for I get. I feel great. I want to keep running and watching the kids go from. Okay, kids, we’re going to just run a mile and they go all out and then they’re dead to nope. You can only run a minute and they’re like wait, but I want to keep running like it’s the shift and the mind set of wait. I want to run more versus how much further do I have to run and yeah, because then they own it more and get excited and then all a sudden I wait. I just did two miles. How did that happen? Oh my I don’t know if I could. Even I could definitely walk for my. I don’t know about run well, you are definitely a very inspirational. Do you have any places or just people who, like you, look to for like your own inspiration like because you’re so positive, like I can literally just feel it there’s a doom right now. Your is a very bovey person like. Where do you do? You have any just places to go to get that honestly, my students and the kids? I think that’s the big biggest thing and probably like drew me to education, is it’s like being around. The kids makes me want to be my best version of me. I don’t know if it’s a matter of just how I grew up in the adults that I was round as a kid or what it is but like I want to show them like life is good and you can control your life and this like there are positives and everything that happened and let’s look for them and let’s build on them, and let’s overcome this together, because it’s going to make us so much stronger and better, and I one of my favorite things to tell the kids is like I like it when they make mistakes and fail at something because it gives them a chance to get better. And I think that’s so important to me because growing up, I kind of grew up in an environment where it was. Perfection was the goal and it was so hard to live in a perfect bubble and feel like. I couldn’t make mistakes and then and then getting to my red that I’m so scared to make a mistake or scared of failing at something, and that like trying to change that in myself that it’s okay, like it’s okay and it’s actually a good thing and trying to ingrain that in kids. Now, because I feel like we’ve gotten to this place, where, like we, try so hard to protect kids from anything, that’s uncomfortable instead of teaching them how to handle things that are uncomfortable, and I don’t feel like that sent him up for success in the future if we protect them from the time they’re five I get yeah, and so one of my big things is like no like drop it fail at it. It’s okay, push yourself beyond what you’re comfortable with like yeah you’re, going to go on a Ka hit those failures because we’re going to get through it together m! No, I love that. I would have loved that as a as a kid just I mean I just remember, being pushed to be perfect like it wasn’t, it wasn’t fun to either like be the last in the running line. It wasn’t fun like you, didn’t, walk to be the last one to finish your push. UPS like you would be light or laughed at or whatever. So I think that’s really valuable and could help a lot of kids like just in their life for ever a yeah, and here even at our Ik, is the cool, an see like the last few runners like everybody goes back to run in with them, and I like it’s, not it’s not like. Oh, come on we’re waiting on you. It’s like yes, we’re cheering you in and you’ve made it and I and it’s a great thing in work and and guess the other thing I love about running or the individual parts like this, where you’re a team, but you can all have different goals. It’s kids start to see hey your success doesn’t mean I failed. We can both succeeded our goals and support one another, even if we’re doing different things or you can run an eight minute Milan. I can be super proud of you and cheer you on, even though I’m at a sixteen minute mile- and I know that you’re supporting me, because you know how hard I’m working to it that time and that’s been really neat to see that there’s a yeah trying to teach that healthy competition with the kids who are in similar ranges they push each other to get better, but they also know like we have an important job to help our whole team get. But I love it. Yeah, like it’s amazing yeah. It’s amazing how much kids are capable of understanding and doing, and the empathy and the love and the support if it’s just fostered- and I really hope that I I hope it’s doing something- to foster it- to create adults that maybe leave our world a little nicer and Oh, I guarantee it is I like guys, I guarantee it is tess e good motivation is like yeah setting them up to be successful adults that can do something positive in this world and it’s been really fun. The kids that I started with watching them now in high school and college and the things an they’re doing and that’s a anteing e, how they’re willing to try different things or the outrage they have for other kids or other people, and once in a while going hey, maybe they did listen a little bit now. I’m sure that you have a great impact, I’m sure that many many kids look back and like that was the one to Cher that made that impact on me. Okay, so I have one more question: Just a fun kind of bonus question: Do you have any like inspirational, either movies or just songs? You listen to like your go to song, to kind of fire a run or like the playlist that you play to get the kids. There are a few and I say they usuly, like kind of the poppy ones like I love like fight Song Rachel, Pat Right, Oh yes, I saw her in a Er. She was very good and even like Yeah Katy pray, roar just some of them that are just that. Like yeah, like I’m empowered, I got this side overcome as far as movies or like stories that I see it’s the ones that are the underdog one like stories, the even just recently the young man who was the first person with Dan Syndrome to complete a full iron man like those types of stories that it’s like, and I think it’s just be. I more identify with the underdog or somebody who has always kind of been. I don’t want to say like unseen or underestimated, but yeah I kind of went through it like. I don’t like to be center of attention, so I wasn’t the one that was like. Oh look at me, look at what I can do like I kind of like to be underestimated or the one that under promise and then over deliver like where people go wait. Where did that come from like so any of those types of stories of like someone who really shouldn’t be able to or that they didn’t, they could do this and then come out and do something big yeah. I Love Grady. Yes, okay! Well, thank you so much for taking the time today to just record on my little podcast, but I’m seriously still in prised, you are impacting I but hundreds of hundreds of kids and seriously. I would have loved to have a gym teacher like you, so keep doing this, it’s really inspiring and I’m just so in off so CONOIDEA. I appreciate you have me I’m honored to be part of this and we thank you. Thank you to Kevin for introducing US. Yes, absolutely all right! Well, that is it for this week and I would love to have you tell a friend about this podcast and you can help me share these inspirational stories by rating and reviewing the class for new inspiration on apple podcast or your favorite podcast platform. If you have a question or an inspirational story, you’d like to share, you can send them my way, you can send me a message on Instar, a plus for new inspiration or email me at new inspiration, podcast and g mail com, thanks again for listening and be sure to join me next time.