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Sunday, October 18, 2015

Mentoring Along The Way

Since I was a little girl I was sure my role in life was to help others. I was never good at math or science, but I loved philosophy, mythology, history, reading, poetry and speech. I was in 1st grade when I met my very first mentor. Her name was Coco and she was in charge of teaching me this amazing poem I was going to recite on Independence day at the local "Teatro del Pueblo" (Open Theater). I remember glimpses of that night. Instead of being nervous, I was excited. I was excited to show the world aka town and my family that all the hours of practice were worth it. I nailed it.



Then, reciting became a hobby and a free entertainment at family gatherings and school events. In middle school, I loved competing at poetry and speech contests. Never won, but recalled giving a fight.  As you can see having a mentor at such young age helped in the future. Im sure all those experiences mentioned above were the foundation of what my true calling in life is. Running has been the platform, but I do feel mentoring is the real big deal.

The past month has been full of both running and mentoring experiences in and outside the athletic arena. Let's take a look..


After a tutoring session, long time ITA member and nephew, Brayan Flores asked me if we could go for a driving practice session. As a mentor I am in. He is 16th now and this is what is important to him at the moment. To be able to say "Yes" and get a few minutes to mentor on the dirt and open roads outside Alamosa is priceless. As an In The Arena ane L.L.Bean athlete my mission is to make something on any given day that will impact our kids lives tomorrow. Diana and Araceli joined us for a ride that day.. So that day, it was not one, but 3 young souls we got to reach out to.





Two weeks ago, I got a chance to jump into the athletic arena at the Rock n Roll, San Jose.. The highlight of the day was not my time or place.. 1:19:03, but some of the  girls I got to compete against. For a few miles, It was Kristen McGlynn-Arendt former Adams State athlete and someone I've shared my journey ups and downs with during her years at Adams forst as a mentor, coach and friend. We tried to helped eachother int the first miles and that felt great on both ends. 
Another athlete that was there and I met back in 2007 during a speaking engagement at Concordia University in Irvine California is Alma Padilla. I was very happy to be there and in a way experience with them what the good fight is all about. On my end, I feel Im making improvements, my body is responding and it will be patience and wisdom that will get where I want to be. 


 After the race, I got on a plane to head to Los Angeles where and amazing, empowering mentor was waiting for me to take me to Oxnard. For the past year, Mr. Jose Murillo has been insisting that I go to Oxnard to share my story to kids there. I agreed on coming after San Jose to do some community maping ad planning for a future more formal speaking engagement to not only elementary School, but as many or all schools in the area. Mr. Murillo feels my story need to be share and told as he feels great deal of admiration for all I have accomplished in both the civic and athletic arenas. During my quick visit, I got a chance to speak at a 4th grade class and give them a sneak peek of a future presentation. Kids are amazing and during their recess many of them went and found me at the school library to ask questions and chat some more. While we were speaking about nutrition, one of the girls said " Im paying more attention to you than my own teacher, quiz me" Can wait to come back and spend more time with these kids..


 All of this may sound amazing, I may even seem like a super hero to some, but mentoring goes both ways. Once you are able to teach, reach to others is like getting another life. In top of that, during the journey one gives others the opportunity to help out and contribute, to show you and teach you something new.  I was hosted by an amazing, compassionate couple who treated me like their daughter. That night when I arrived, we all went to church as a family, had an amazing  traditional homemade dinner from Guadalajara, Carne en su Jugo and the day before I left I was taken on an amazing run up in the mountains with my newest mentor, Mr. Murillo. A real treat! 


I have not done poetry in years, I do enjoy speaking engagements, love each aspect of mentoring, read here and there. I'm very fortunate and happy to have the best of three worlds: mentor, mentee and athlete. 

After my visit in Oxnard, I flew to Oklahoma for a 3 week sea level training camp with the most supportive team on earth, my sister Alicia and her husband Luke.  More on that on my next blog..
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Saturday, September 19, 2015

THE HERE AND NOW





The fall has arrive and with it a new school year which means  another opportunity to help our kids at the ITA after school program. This school year Immigration Resource Center along with Tierra Nueva apartments will continue  to be by our side. The Immigrant Resource will continue to provide snacks for our kids along with the help of Laura and Elsa.This will be Laura's second year and Elsa's first. We all get very excited when we get to have new volunteers come and help us. So if you are reading this and live in the area and would like to volunteer, know you or anyone else you might know are welcome.


Tierra Nueva Apartments will continue to let us use the community room.
Also, I want to thank Steve from the Alamosa Quiropractic center for donating school supplies for the third consecutive year. Steve is constantly asking how he could help.
My sister Norma has also agreed to continue to help and supervise the times I have to travel for an speaking engagement, competition or training. A huge relieve as the program will roll all year around.

When and Where

Monday-Thursdays at 4:30pm
600 South Craft
Community Room

This would not work out if we did not have the main ingredient, our kids. The need still there and our kids love coming to the after school program to either do homework, help others with homework, help organize or implement an idea.



Just last week, 5th grader Jessica, spent an hour organizing our library and a week later she started a new program of her own called, Art Class with Jessica. I loved the concept. Once a kid is done with homework they can go with Jessica and ask her for a drawing (made from scratch  by her) to color. Jessica then becomes Miss Tomas Lopez. I already have my first drawing up in my refrigerator.

We also added, therapy sessions done by 8th grader, Araceli. She wants to be a psychologist and asked if she could start giving us some counseling sessions. I already had two sessions of 20 and 15 minutes each and let me tell you. She will be good at it. Here Araceli  gets to learn about ethics and confidentiality and we the clients about trust.  She already has 5 clients including myself. The other good thing about this sessions is that they are FREE!
Can't help but smile as I type this. My girls are growing, learning and starting to visualize and see themselves succeeding in the future. Many many things to be proud of and many more work to be done.
 
Next week, I will be heading to San Jose to run the RocknRoll San Jose Half. Training has gone well. I look forward to compete and challenge myself physically and mentally. After that, the plan is to spend a couple of weeks training  at sea level with my sister Alicia in Oklahoma.
Looking forward to make the best of this new opportunity, see how my body responds and practice the here and now..

I am more than grateful to be able to workout everyday. Never imagined 2km repeats would ever felt like an indulgence. Loving each mile at a time... Happy me = Happy mentor = Happy kids..

Like a round circle where we all win!

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