Hello,
I am very excited to begin my Community Service Project here in Minneapolis, MN as a part of the In The Arena Roster! September is just around the corner and fall is by far my favorite time of year. When the air smells so crisp and clean and the temperatures start to drop I feel a huge increase in energy. Probably because I realize that winter isn’t too far off. However, there is still plenty of time between now and the first snowfall for both training and enjoying the extended hours of sunshine.
My community Service project brings me to the numerous City Parks that are spread throughout the Minneapolis metro area. I will be working with a group called Youthline that is based in South Minneapolis and is geared towards kids aged 11-17 years. One of the objectives of Youthline is to plan healthy, active and creative projects that utilize the many different features of each park we visit throughout the entire year!
One of my favorite parks, Theodore Wirth, offers countless trails to run on for hours during the spring, summer and fall, but thanks to a huge effort by the local ski community we now have a snow making system and lights for the winter! The best part is reaching the top of hill while training in Wirth Park is having an amazing view of the downtown skyline as you look east. I look forward to using Theodore Wirth Park to help me achieve one of my goals while working with the Youthline kids, to try and introduce them to Cross Country Skiing while staying close to home. It is going to be a lot of work but I am extremely motivated after watching the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and I hope to use the recent excitement and enthusiasm towards Olympic Sports to motivate and inspire the group to try new things!
Thanks,
Caitlin
