Phin's Fleet

Back in August I was trying to come up with an activity that would be easy for younger kids to do after school. Phin was on my mind and I knew how much he loved to run before he was sick. So the idea of starting up a Running Club at school was born.

Two moms volunteered to be coaches and we decided on starting small: offering it just one day a week for six weeks, one hour after school to the K4-4th grade students. The principal read an announcement at school and it was up to the children to pick up a sign-up form and turn it in with a parent's signature. Thirty-four lower grade students signed-up, plus two middle school students joined in as helpers.

The coaches came up with the idea of creating a fun run for the last Running Club date this fall. It would be something for the kids to work toward, a goal. The younger ones would run a full mile and the older ones would run 2 miles. The coaches wanted to name the run in honor of Phin and I pitched the idea of creating t-shirts in Phin's favorite color, lime green.

The front of the shirts said:

PHIN'S FLEET
Queen of Apostles
Running Club
2013  

Across the back of the shirt it said:
TRUST IN GOD'S PLAN

When I approached Phin's mom, Donna, about making Running Club shirts in Phin's honor she was happy to give her blessing. Then the coaches suggested we add Phin's jersey number to the back. When I called Donna to ask, she shared a story with me.

When Phin was three- or four-years-old and his sister was just a toddler, Donna and her husband tried to secretly talk about their children by referring them as #1 and #2 in place of using their names. Phin caught on right away and said: I don't want to be number one. I want to be number ten. Can you call me 10?
And it stuck. In little league games or when Phin was running in a 5k race, Donna would cheer for her son by shouting: TEN!  He would hear his number and know.

We added the number 10 to the back of the shirts.

When word got out at school that Running Club kids were getting these shirts, I was asked if other students, parents and school staff could order them as well. We opened the Phin's Fleet shirt order to the whole school community. Sixty shirts were ordered in four days. More shirt order requests are coming in, but we had to set a deadline to make sure we received them in time.

On Saturday morning we pulled on our Phin's Fleet shirts for the first Soles for Catholic Education Walk. Since our school decided to walk in memory of Phin, we asked QoA school families to wear the lime green Phin shirts. It was good thing we did. More than 7,000 people from Catholic schools across the archdiocese gathered at Mount Mary University. Without those lime green shirts I doubt we could have spotted our school group.

Our girls were shocked to see how many other children attend Catholic school just like them. It was chilly and overcast, but as soon as we started walking down the parkway we warmed up. There were 14 tents stationed along the route manned by representatives of the 14 catholic high schools. The girls looked ahead to each tent, eager to open their bag for treats and bookmarks. When treats ran out, one school gave out "free high fives." Jo thought that was funny.
 

Yesterday afternoon, the Running Club had their Run for Phin from school to the Village Park. The sky was gray and a light drizzle started. Parents were stationed as crossing guards over the course to keep track of the kids and make sure they continued on the course in the right direction. Jo, Coryn, Mallory and I took up a post at the finish to cheer for their friends. The younger group started first and easily finished the mile course. The older students followed a few minutes later. As the runners made the final turn into the park, they were greeted by parents and teammates cheering them on to the finish line. We had just enough time to enjoy some post-run refreshments and take a group photo before the clouds released the rain. 

Coaches Tina and Peggy asked Jo and Cokes if they'll join Running Club in the spring. Neither one responded convincingly because they know our deal. No extra curricular activities until they quit sucking their thumbs. Period. If I would have let her, Coryn would have run right along with her friends for the race. But Jo says she rather cheer on the runners. She noticed some of them really needed the extra encouragement to finish.