Kim Dabbs

Marathon Training = Professional Development

Posted by Kim Dabbs, Mar 16, 2011 0 comments


Kim Dabbs

Kim Dabbs

I have to be honest. I used to be one of those people in my car when driving by a runner, would always grumble, “that person sure is crazy.”

I used to wonder why someone would torture themselves in the Michigan cold, or the humidity that creeps up in August every year.

I used to wonder why someone would willingly subject their body to the miles of pounding on the pavement step after step.

It was my associate director at Michigan Youth Arts that changed all of that for me.

She is a runner and our organization decided to launch a 5k run as a fundraiser in the fall of 2009. During our first Arts in Motion event, I helped during the registration while watching all of these committed runners come out in the frost covered the grass crunching under their shoes to raise money for our organization.

This year I decided I had better step it up and actually RUN for the arts. I began a ten week training program and on October 10, 2010, I ran and completed my first 5k.    

It is now March and I have since completed a 10k, am running my first half marathon on Sunday, and am registered to finish the San Francisco Marathon on July 31st of this year. 26.2 miles that includes the span of the Golden Gate Bridge and the hills of the city.

The running quickly took hold of me and I am finding that the greatest professional development that I have had lately is my marathon training.

Right now, as a leader in arts education in Michigan, I know that the daily efforts to advocate for and position the arts in every day lives is a marathon. We get injured and battered along the way, but that only builds our base for the social change that we are creating for everyone on a daily basis.

Sometimes it is the building of the base that is the longest stretch that we must make sure is solid prior to advancing our distance or our goals.

I look forward to the fall for two reasons this year.

First, Michigan Youth Arts is releasing the results of our statewide census on the status and condition of arts education in Michigan. This is a first step for the foundation of ensuring equity and accessibility for arts education for all students in Michigan. This critical link will be the foundation that we need to go the distance in changing our approach for education in the state.

I do know that running is not for everyone and I also understand that legislative visits and testimony before school boards is not for everyone. What we continue to do is find a place for everyone to be heard, for everyone to have a voice, and for everyone's advocacy strategies be tied to their strengths so that we can all be in this together.

This census will be the first step in identifying the change that needs to happen and working with everyone to make it come to life.

Secondly, I will be ecstatic to have completed my first marathon and I can smile as I get those crazy glances of cars driving by clearly muttering, “That person sure is crazy!”

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