Períodos de correr, enseñar y vivir

With this blog post, NYRR welcomes Keila Merino to our Contributors Circle. Keila is a runner, teacher, and member of the NYRR Pace Team.

NYRR Contributors Circle was established to create a meaningful connection with, and dedicated spotlight on, diverse communities and important societal initiatives within the running community. This community was introduced in 2022 with the intent to elevate the voices and stories of historically underrepresented members, notably female, BIPOC, and gender non-conforming runners. In year two, NYRR continues to build on that mission introducing new voices and addressing non-traditional issues impacting our community today. NYRR is honored to provide the forum for, and partner with, this insightful group of trusted community creators. We will welcome additional members to the Contributors Circle in the months ahead.

"If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough."
– Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

People often refer to different periods in their lives as seasons. I appreciate this perspective as it is easier to think of moments in time lasting only a blink rather than a lifetime. It also permits me to really appreciate all seasons.

My First Running Season

My name is Keila Merino. Running has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was born in Mexico and raised in a small town where cars were a luxury that most people didn’t enjoy. Walking or running to places was the norm. Oftentimes, I found myself running through cornfields just to make it to class on time. Most of my running happened while playing soccer with my cousins after school. We chased the ball in large open fields until sundown.

When I was nine years old, my family immigrated to Arizona in search of better opportunities – the American Dream. This was a challenging time in my life. I missed my grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles, my language, and my country. (The photo above shows me dancing with a cousin in Mexico before our move; we were all very close.) Some kids even made fun of the way I spoke!

I really felt like I didn’t belong until I discovered running. It became my refuge. It was something I was familiar with, and it brought back memories of my childhood in Mexico. I competed throughout middle and high school. Running helped me feel like I was a part of something.

My Teaching Season

I moved to Manhattan after graduating from Arizona State University. Like many transplants to NYC, I arrived with the hope of making a difference. As a Teaching Fellow at a public school in the Bronx, I planned to take a two-year break after an intense course load at ASU.

To my surprise, I fell in love with teaching. I saw myself in many of my students. Like me, their first language was Spanish, and they were trying to learn English while keeping up academically. I admired their bravery and wanted to continue to be a teacher who made them feel safe and seen. This admiration solidified my desire to continue to teach and help students of similar backgrounds.

I’ve now taught for 20 years in NYC public schools in the Bronx, Queens, and currently in Manhattan. This fall I begin a new school season as a first-time fifth grade teacher – a significant change as most of my career has been dedicated to first and second graders. I’ve tried to avoid teaching past fourth grade level because older kids scare me. A reason might be that they are much taller than my 5-foot-1-inch frame!

Preparation for this new season has involved hours of reading books for young readers, specifically realistic fiction novels. People often give me funny looks when they read the titles of my books on my train commute. There’s also been hours of planning and revising this summer to help me feel better prepared.

Despite all the work, I am looking forward to this new teaching season. I will welcome most of my prior fourth graders into a new grade and we will continue where we left off, learning in both English and Spanish. I will teach them how to conjugate verbs, analyze literature, write essays, and solve tricky math problems, but most of all, I hope they learn to love learning.

My Second Running Season

While teaching brings me immense joy, during stressful teaching days, running is my meditative escape. During evening runs, I reflect, lesson-plan, and problem-solve. I am grateful for this, as I am currently ending a long season of injury. I have not toed a starting line since my attempt to break the transcontinental female record in 2016.

My goal was to run from California to New York faster than any woman ever had. Prior to this attempt, I had successfully completed numerous marathons and a few ultras. However, I felt that these races were selfish endeavors, and I wanted more purpose from running. The goal of my transcontinental attempt was to raise funds for youth running programs, specifically Rising New York Road Runners. An injury forced me to abandon my attempt, and it broke my heart. Since then, I’ve struggled both mentally and physically to get back on the road. Plagued by injuries season after season, I lost my desire to run.

Although it’s been arduous being injured, it has also been an opportunity for reflection and learning. I made adjustments to my training that have allowed me to feel more confident and optimistic about running.

During this running season, I will resume my pacing duties with NYRR in November at the TCS New York City Marathon. Pacing this race gives me the opportunity to help runners from all over the world meet their goals. It also allows me to wave to students and their parents who come out to watch me run. The TCS New York City Marathon will be my last long run before the Tucson Marathon in Arizona, where my entire family will be able to see me run. I love seeing my little nieces and nephews cheering me on.

For me, running and teaching go hand-in-hand and I am fortunate to have found both. I look forward to these new seasons of teaching and running. Yes, they both scare me because it’s been a long time since I have pushed myself to try something new, but why not? I hope to inspire my students, my nieces and nephews, and other youth to love learning and running.