M.C. Helsabeck used to work as a sports copy editor here at the Daily Record/Sunday News. While working here, he originated the "Foot Power" column, which is still published every Tuesday and examines the local running and biking scene. Helsabeck left the newspaper earlier this year and is now teaching fifth grade at Ore Valley, in the Dallastown Area School District. ... He recently provided this look at his a couple of his kids, who are making some attempts to get into running:
One thing about working from home, as I do now, is that I am often writing this column down in our rec room (aka the basement). As I do just that on this Sunday afternoon, my two sons are taking turns running on the treadmill and “working out.�Tyler, who turned 11 on Friday, is a stat freak. Whether it’s baseball, soccer or his current seasonal sport, basketball, he loves to keep statistics. Many teachers wonder whether he will follow in his father’s footsteps and choose a career in sportswriting.
Only time will tell about that, but he came up to me a few moments ago and excitedly said that he broke his record for a one-mile run on the treadmill. He sprinted to the finish to post a time of 8 minutes and 5 seconds, shattering his previous best by 23 seconds.
Not to be outdone, my youngest son, Keenan, who will be 6 in February, also climbed aboard. It is quite a comical sight to see such a little guy on the treadmill. It is even more entertaining to watch him run while being “coached� by his older brother. For the record, Keenan clocked a 7:30 for a half-mile.
My boys have a ways to go if they want to catch the two students from my fifth-grade class at Ore Valley. Justin Barnett and Daniel Friedland, both excellent students, are also each running the Winter Series. Barnett, by the way, might even beat me these days, but please don’t tell him or I will never hear the end of it!
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