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5K Family Run/Walk

Running with a lot of heart
New York Teacher
Annual 5K Family Run Walk
Erica Berger

Some 300 runners take off on Surf Avenue in Brooklyn for the UFT’s annual 5K Family Run/Walk.

 

UFT members at Leaders HS in Brooklyn were looking for a way to get together outside of work — and what better way to do that than by participating in the UFT’s annual 5K Family Run/Walk to benefit the UFT Disaster Relief Fund? Rebecca Park was among the school’s 14 educators who joined about 300 others on the sun-splashed Coney Island boardwalk on June 1. “It feels good to get outside together, support the union and help raise money for a good cause,” the social studies teacher said. UFT Vice President for Middle Schools Richard Mantell, who organized the run, summed up the day by quoting famed track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman. “He said, ‘The real purpose of running isn’t to win a race, it’s to test the limits of the human heart,’ ” Mantell said. “Our 5K isn’t about winning, but it is about the human heart — in our case, running to raise money that will help others. If that isn’t about the human heart, I don’t know what is.”

Related Topics: Middle Schools