There is a saying about time flying when you’re having fun. I must be having fun because three weeks have gone by very quickly!
My first class teaching urban poling since my instructor certification was three week ago. My “students” are all members of Pembina Active Living (55+) in my end of town. Twelve participants registered and eleven showed up for the first class.
We met in Scurfield Park in my neighbourhood which was a perfect spot to start since there are paved flat and slightly raised paths by the lake, and lots of space to physically distance from each other.
Based on recommendations during my instructor certification course, the advice is to start with two or three students, with a maximum of eight to ten, if you are a more experienced instructor.. In my case, I already had twelve people registered before I was certified.
Fortunately, I have been a teacher for more than 30 years, so I didn’t think I’d have any issues with such a large class. I was quite pleased that so many people were interested, so except for one person who tried to register late, I started with a very full class.
I had one little surprise guest walker, my granddaughter Sabreena, who has been spending a lot of time with me over the last few months since she is schooling at home. I’ve been teaching her to sew, cook and bak, and invited her to join the class. Her only question was: Is there anyone under 50? My reply” There isn’t likely anyone under 60. That didn’t deter her; she showed up on Week 1 anyway.
Week 1 went very well. Some were chuckling about how we all know how to walk, that is, swinging the opposite hand and opposite foot, but, put poles in our hands, and suddenly we are walking, swinging the same hand and foot. This is a common mistake for most first time walkers.
After a few adjustments and some practice, everyone was getting the rhythm, but after an hour of tutoring and walking, I think everyone was glad to have the class end.
By Week 2, I lost one participant. He liked the class. but found a 10:00 am start time a bit too late for his exercises. I did a bit less tutoring and we did more practice walking, including back and forth on the inclined path.
After the class, I had a treat for everyone – two coconut buns each that I made two days before in my virtual cooking demonstration to PAL (55+) members (recipe and all about coconut found here).
I handed out the packages, and was ready to give instructions on heating them before eating, but a couple of participants had already dived into their packages and had one. I love to cook and bake, and anytime I can give some away, is a good day for me.
I decided on a different path for Week 3. Fort Whyte Nature Centre is a wonderful place to go for a walk in a forest in this beautiful city. The walking path consisted on cement (parking lot where we parked), asphalt (the path to the centre) and crushed gravel and wood chips (in the forest).
This was a perfect day to stop along the walk to see and smell lots of Alberta wild rose along the paths. And a pleasant and wonderful surprise, the rare yellow lady’s slippers.
Sometimes I forget how interesting Fort Whyte is, because usually when I go, I am on my bike and so focused on getting my 10 k ride, that I don’t stop and smell the roses or sit on a bench and watch the mother ducks and her dozen or more ducklings in the pond.
We took a walk on one of the woodchip paths and onto a boardwalk encircling one of the ponds. That spot is quite popular in the fall when the geese are migrating south for the winter. They use that as a rest stop on their way. The migration is quite something to see. The fall sky quite literally is thick with thousands of geese flying in just as the sun is setting. That’ll have to be another blog post in the fall.
The group was smaller on Week 3 (other commitments), but I did pick up one additional new person, my older granddaughter Hana, who was convinced by Breen that she should try poling too.
Everyone did very well and they are mastering the basic technique without much difficulty, meaning that the overthinking is now progressing to naturally walking, so that it feels effortless. Next week is a bit of incline walking and using a double poling technique. And at the end, I have another special treat for all. And no, it’s not coconut buns.
Sandra
