Adam Wallace has figured out what really matters in the long run.
Competing for yourself, he now understands, will only get you so far, even if the race covers 26.2 miles.
That’s why the former Deerfield star has replaced his dream of becoming an Olympic marathoner with perhaps an even more arduous task: teaching and coaching in the Washington, D.C., public schools.
It’s a world apart from the affluent area where he grew up and the other end of the running universe for someone who competed for Dartmouth and Wisconsin.
“I decided that I wanted to take a new direction in my life,” he said.
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Wallace has run competitively since 8th grade, and loved it, so this change of course did not come easily. As a Deerfield senior he placed third in the Class AA cross-country meet and fourth in the 3,200 meters at the state track meet.
At Wisconsin he was the 20th-fastest U.S. male in the 10,000 meters in 2003.
Shortly after that Wallace graduated with a degree in chemical engineering and a plan to use last October’s LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Trials. He finished his inaugural marathon 22 seconds short of that goal and switched his sights toward the 2008 and 2012 Games.
As fall turned to winter, however, he began to wonder whether the enormous time and energy necessary to reach the Olympics shouldn’t be put to a better use.
“Yes, it would have been a dream come true,” he says, “but I know I can make a more positive contribution in the lives of other people by doing something like being a teacher. It’s just something I thought I would really enjoy.”
This was not altogether surprising. Wallace has always been an excellent student–he was a 1998 Tribune Scholar-Athlete and his mother, Lois, is a teacher.
Wallace decided the best way to help change the world was to teach in an urban school. This summer he entered the DC Teaching Fellows Program, which puts college graduates not trained as teachers through eight weeks of intensive training and places them in Washington’s highest-need schools.
Participants earn their certification through coursework at local universities while they teach.
On Sept. 1 Wallace began teaching 7th-grade math at Hine Junior High School, a majority of whose students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
Wallace is not only adjusting to procedures and lesson plans but also a school where computers don’t cooperate, some parents struggle to buy a $2 binder and authority must be earned, not assumed.
“I have to realize there are students just coming from situations different than I’m used to,” he says. “You have to be very flexible, but most of them are good kids.”
Wallace describes himself as “physically and emotionally exhausted” at the end of every school day, but his voice nonetheless fills with excitement when he talks about his job.
“I love the whole . . . the challenge of it,” he says. “To teach someone something they didn’t know before is an amazing experience.
“I think everyone has that experience at some point of their lives, but as a teacher you have the opportunity to do that every day.”
Those feelings explain why Wallace also is starting a cross-country program from scratch and taking over the Hine track program without even knowing if he’ll get paid for it.
Last Monday, the first day of cross-country practice, just one kid showed up–in street clothes. Tuesday, seven more appeared, and Wallace expects the number to grow.
So far he is busy teaching his athletes how to stretch and to understand that distance running is not short sprints separated by periods of walking while you catch your breath.
“I thought it would be a ton of fun to be a coach,” he says. “The kids have been great so far, and I’m excited to see where it goes.”
That will depend partly on resources. Wallace’s runners can’t afford running shoes, and he has no budget for his program, so he is seeking donations of cash and equipment for cross country and track. (Anyone wishing to donate can reach him at [email protected])
Wallace believes that the gifts of running will benefit any kid, whether he competes in Deerfield or D.C.
“That concept of putting in a little work every day and seeing it pay off in the long run is something we all need to learn because that’s how everything in life is achieved,” he says. “You’re constantly getting glimpses of a level of personal accomplishment you never thought was possible.
“A lot of these kids are not conscious of the world outside D.C. and all this world has to offer if you are willing to work for it and take it, because it’s harder for them.
“It’s harder because of where they come from, and they have to work harder; and if they can learn that and if running gets them thinking about college or the world outside D.C., that’s my dream as a coach.”
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