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Faces of Frisco ISD is a monthly feature highlighting some of the untold stories of FISD and the people who make FISD special.
Hamlin Jones of Riddle Elementary, had never run a competitive race in his life until the Gary Burns Fun Run of 2005. But that was the first step into a life-changing adventure.
The Gary Burns is the major fundraiser for Frisco Education Foundation and campuses often bring teams to run in the event. Some campuses take their running more seriously than others. Superintendent Rick Reedy regularly takes employees who beat his time to lunch after the event.
“Mia Bennett (principal of Riddle at the time) said you’ve got to run Gary Burns! I had never run a 5K. But I ran it in 20 minutes and took 20th place,” Jones said.
After that Jones, a pre-kindergarten teacher, was hooked. He says he loves the atmosphere of running, particularly races. “There are no winners, no losers. You just do your best and as long as you finish, you’ve won.”
“I thought, this is so cool,” he said, of his first few races. “I ran the 2005 White Rock Half Marathon. I had never run over five miles. I didn’t know much about running or how to train but I loved it. It was incredibly challenging. I caught the bug. I then ran my first full marathon 4 months later and I cried like a baby.” He said the tears were a combination of pain and accomplishment.
Jones admits he got a bit carried away with running – taking on nine marathons in seven months during 2006-2007. Once he established a more reasonable running schedule he began to spread the news about running to others. He has several other teachers at Riddle running. Coworkers Brett Shelby, Jamie Peel, Tamara Adams and Julie Bledsoe have begun running 5K, 10K, marathons and half marathons, as well. The school secretary, Joanie Wilson, has also taken up running, he said.
Jones has begun helping people train at the Frisco Athletic Center, where he says he is meeting many FISD employees. The district offers to help pay a portion of the employee’s membership at FAC and Jones says he thinks that is bringing more people in to work out.
Jones is a running coach with Luke’s Locker and one of the activities he has begun doing that raises quite a few eyebrows is running to races and then running the race, for instance, running 3 miles to the Gary Burns Fun Run, then running the 5K, and running 23 miles to the White Rock Marathon, then running the 26.2 mile marathon. Another personal goal he sets for himself is running his age. This past summer he ran 37 miles to celebrate his birthday.
There are some educators who say they would never teach very young children because they keep their teacher on the run. Perhaps the pre-kindergarten students at Riddle know what it is like to have to run to keep up with the teacher.
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