At a middle school track meet on May 25, a group of athletes, parents, and high school runners stood in a rough circle as they honored cross country and track coach Gerhard Behrens. This would be his last meet. His fellow coach, Coulter Rose — also a science teacher at Linus Pauling — took up a microphone to send him off with a brief speech.
“Mr. Behrens … created one of the largest middle school cross country meets in Oregon and coached back-to-back state champions in 2017 and 2018,” Rose said. “One of those teams went on to be the Corvallis High School state champions in 2019. But I think Gerhard would say his greatest achievement was helping well over 1200 kids become student athletes and learn how to compete with integrity and live in a healthy manner.”
Besides being a coach, Behrens has over three decades of teaching experience and is an accomplished runner himself, as well as the founder of the Heart of the Valley Running Club in Corvallis. His life has been driven by a love of running, but also a dedication to serving others.
Photo courtesy of Adams Elementary
How did you get into teaching?
I think it actually goes back to college. I went to Catholic school, Santa Clara University, and the Jesuits have a very strong sense of service and scholarship. I took studying really seriously, but the whole idea of service I took seriously as well. I worked in the Peace Corps because I wanted to do some service and I did not want to go into the military, so that kind of started the ball rolling.
Then when I came back I did a few things. I was an office assistant, I was a technical writer, but the whole idea of service kind of bubbled back up again in my late 20s and I guess for lack of creativity I thought teaching was an easy and good way to do that. It seemed like a very natural path; there's a whole bunch of stuff I could have done but I defaulted to teaching because I had really great experiences in high school and college. I think that's one of the reasons I'm a teacher.
Describe your teaching career.
I'm finishing up 33 years. I taught for two years at a middle school in California, then moved here and taught second, third, and fifth grade for 26 years. The last four have been PE (at Adams elementary).
How did you get into coaching?
I watched my daughter Bridget run track at Linus Pauling for three years. She was pretty good and she hung out with a pretty talented group of kids. Mr. Rose would run with them in the off season, and then every once in a while he would call me and say “Hey, can you run with this group? I've got a meeting” or something like that.
Bridget being a seventh- and eighth-grader, I had to show her what shorts I was going to wear, I was told what to say and what not to say, how close to be … She was like, “Dad, you're only doing this because I let you. And Mr. Rose wants you to. But don’t get any ideas.”
When she left Linus Pauling I thought, “What this team needs is a cross country team. These kids love to run, I love to run, blah blah blah.” So I approached Mr. Rose and he said “Go ahead, start one.” He wasn’t averse to the idea, it's just that he didn't want to be the grand poobah; he didn’t want to take charge.
So I approached the administration. They wanted nothing to do with it. They were kind of keeping their hands clear of extracurricular sports; they wanted the Boys and Girls Club to do everything, which is an OK strategy.
So my default there was getting the Heart of the Valley Running Club to be the sponsor of the Linus Pauling team. The Boy Scouts could have a group at Linus Pauling, or the robotics club sponsored by HP. There was a drama club sponsored by an individual who just wanted to do it. I said, “OK, I want to have a cross country club and HOTV will take care of the insurance and all that.”' So that's how it got started.
I guess I’ll add to that. We went on a Lenten retreat in March 2009. During it the whole idea of service came up again. The person who was giving the retreat said, “What you should really do is think about what your passion is and let that guide your service.” So that's when I started HOTV and the XC team.
After about four years, the participation went from about 25 to almost 100. Then they said I think we're just going to make it a district-sponsored team. I think that made them feel better about insurance. This thing was getting so big they didn’t want an outside entity taking care of it.
Do you have a preference between track and XC?
I think I still like cross country better because there’s a playfulness about it. You're on a trail, you're in the grass, you're on a hill, every course is different. You’re racing the course and the person next to you, not just chasing a time.
The track is very clinical and very exacting. It’s pure. Cross country has a purity that also involves some fun and some playfulness. Some of the kids have had their best experiences in the pouring rain with huge puddles, because you just can't worry about your time anymore
We go somewhere different every day of practice, we’re not just on the track every day. We go to neighborhoods, we go to hills, we take field trips.
What are some of your favorite memories from coaching?
The girls team won the unofficial state championship two years in a row at Western. It was pretty great to watch these young girls work so hard together and seemingly enjoy the hard work. But I didn't start the program for that, to be really good, I started the program so that kids would have the opportunity for running.
I would say one of my best memories — it’s not a specific memory, it's a general memory — is coming back after a run, mostly XC. Maybe we’ve been up at the trail at the top of 13th Street; maybe we've been to Wilson Elementary and done intervals around their playground; maybe we’ve been to Cloverland park. We’re doing our core work and stretching and all that kind of stuff, and there’s nothing but banter.
The kids are just yakking with each other about one thing or another. So I give an instruction and then everybody goes back to talking to each other. I give an instruction and then everybody goes back to talking to each other again. There's this real sense of satisfaction and camaraderie that all comes together at the end of a practice.
Even as a coach it's really satisfying watching these kids in the glow of having accomplished a good workout, but then also to have this sense of teamwork and camaraderie where kids are just joking with each other — sixth-graders with eighth-graders, boys with girls.The end of practice is very satisfying.
Outside of coaching, you’re passionate about running. Could you say a little about your personal experiences?
I’ve always been athletic, but I’ve never really been good. When I was a kid I played baseball, basketball, football, but I was never really that good. I made it on the basketball team in high school because only about 15 kids wanted to play. So I made the cut. But I just sat on the bench. I was practice fodder. In volleyball I wasn’t so bad, but I wasn’t the star of the team. Nothing hinged on me.
Then when I went to college somebody told me, “You should try out for crew,” because they’re always recruiting for crew. And I found out that I am really good at sports that require grit and determination. So I became a really accomplished rower, and because of that I found out I could also run. Everyone on the crew team was also on a cross country team in high school, and I cleaned their clocks every time we worked out.
So I found out in college what it was really like to be an athlete. Instead of just playing sports, I really felt like I was an athlete. But the thing about crew is that you need to have a boat, you need seven other guys, you need a coxswain, it helps to have a coach and the coach needs a boat, the coach’s boat needs an engine, you got to get eight oars down, and you need a reservoir or another body of water to row on. It’s a pain in the ass to be on the crew team because it’s a logistical nightmare.
So I did that for four years and then I thought, “I’ll go out for the cross country team and see what happens.” And I ended up becoming the number one runner on our cross country team my senior year. One of the beauties of it was I could walk out the door and start a workout, and when I was done I was back at my door. It was just so simple. Again I found out that I could manage discomfort better than a lot of people. So I found success, and it was joyful, and it was simple. I could do it anytime, anywhere, with somebody, without somebody, on a trail, on a track, on a road. It was just the most elegant sport to me.
So I stuck with that after college. In the Peace Corps, for the first three months of training I ran every day, and then I went down to my village and I stopped running. I thought, “This is kind of weird for a guy to go out and burn calories when half the children here are dying of malnutrition. It seemed really wrong. Then after about six weeks I thought, “Fuck it. I’m living in this country doing what I can, and I’m just going to run again.”
So I ran when I was in the Peace Corps, and I just kept running. I found a club when I got back. There was hardly a day when it wasn’t a joyful experience, whether I was running slow or running fast. That’s about all I can say.
Some people think that school sports are a waste of time or resources. What do you think they add to school that kids can’t get elsewhere?
I’ve thought about this question a lot. In Europe schools don’t have sports. Everything is run through clubs. My cousins live in Germany — if they wanted to do sports they’d join their local club. So in one sense I don’t think schools should do it. But clubs are also kind of exclusive; you have to join, you have to have a way to get there. The thing about school sports is that it’s very democratic. Anyone can join in. So I’m going to defer to that being better than the club system because it just gives everyone a chance to participate.
If you want to join the Bowerman Track Club, or you want to join Reign Soccer instead of playing for a school team, that’s great. Because sport in general is character building, it’s healthy, you make friends, there are highs and lows, so sport itself is amazing. Just the way music is, or artwork is, or being in the school choir. Those are all amazing activities. You’re learning about yourself, you’re learning about how to be in a group, and you’re perfecting a skill of some kind. That aside, I think schools having sports teams is still worth it, because it’s a democratic way for that kind of character-building, intra- and inter-personal building to happen.
What do you try to teach the kids you coach?
The biggest thing I try to coach at the middle school level is that being in shape and being on a team feels great. It just feels great. Right in the middle of climbing a hill or in the middle of a hard interval, you might be thinking, “I wish I was getting fro-yo right now.” But in general, if you can bring yourself into the present moment, which is what I ask them to do, it’s a mind-bending experience to be inside your body working as hard as you can and doing that with a group. I want kids to experience that whether they’re running a 10-minute mile or a five-minute mile.
I want them to define themselves from the inside out. It’s not your time that defines you, it’s not what group you run with that defines you. I want them to get a really intrinsic feeling for the value of what they’re doing. And I also say that it could be other things. You’re on a cross country team or a track team right now, but maybe your biggest thing is soccer, or basketball, or taekwondo, or whatever.
But for now, since you’re at this practice, make it a great experience. Make it the experience that it can be today. That’s true for everybody, whether you’re running under 16 minutes for a 5k or whether you’re hoping to break 25 minutes. Everybody can have that experience of fulfillment and community.
What have you learned from them?
This is going to sound egotistical, but I’ve learned that I don’t think I’m wrong about this. There are kids — they’re not beaming when they’re running — but you can tell by their focus and what they’re doing with their bodies that they’re into it and that they’re there in the moment. They look beautiful when they’re running, and it’s not just because of their form. There’s a sense of joy.
I learn every year that kids love running, and they love to work hard. They’ll do it all the time, because there’s an intrinsic idea that “this feels good now, and it’ll feel even better when I’m done.”
There was one girl out there this year. She was horrible. She didn’t want to be out there, she didn’t want to run. She was always complaining about her stomach, her legs, something hurt, it’s too hot to breathe, it sucks.
In about the sixth week I said, “You look really good today. What do you think has caused the change?” And she said, “I just thought I would have more fun if I tried harder because I watch everyone else trying hard.” I thought, “Man, that’s it. That’s exactly what I want them to learn.” What I keep learning every year is that that’s a decent philosophy to go after.
What’s something you’re passionate about outside of running?
Developing a culture of fitness at our school. I’m doing everything I can and being conscious about it. We have a running and walking club during breaks. We have a yoga thing twice a week. We’ve had open gym nights where kids can just play in the gyms and the hallways. We have nutrition facts at every lunch period. We have competitions among classrooms to see who can get the most kids on the running course. To see who can have the most kids at Zoom PE.
Every month we have a theme — there was No Soda November, Better Sleep in December — I had a theme for most months of the school year with stuff on the wall and things that we did in PE. I would say that’s really been a focus in the last four years.
Other than that, it goes back to the thing I started with at the beginning. For better or for worse, I feel driven by this idea of service. So that’s why I chose teaching, that’s why I went to the Peace Corps, that’s why I coach. When I retire, I want to take that passion for service and put it elsewhere. Maybe work at the food pantry, or Habitat for Humanity, or do trail building with Greenbelt. The idea of service is an overarching idea.
