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WEEKLY NEWS 2: Marathon Kids

A new program known as Marathon Kids based in Austin, Texas, is trying to encourage children from kindergarten through the fifth grade to run a marathon. The children are not asked to run the full length of the marathon at one time. Instead, they are being encouraged to run the distance--a total of about 26 miles--in half mile and quarter mile segments during approximately five months.

The director of Marathon Kids, Kay Morris, wants the program to help kids get in shape and stay in shape. In addition to physical health, she believes that Marathon Kids may even help children that are shy. By giving them an attainable goal and rewarding the completion of the marathon, she feels that they may gain self esteem and confidence that they will carry with them even after the program is finished.

Marathon Kids has been around since 1995 and has slowly grown in popularity in Texas, spreading from Houston to Dallas. It has even reached outside of Texas. Morris has received inquiries about Marathon Kids from other states such as Oregon and Maine.

So how does the program work? At the beginning of the school year children are given a journal with data logs on each side of the paper. One side is devoted to keeping track of the amount of miles he or she has ran, and the other side is a record of the foods the child has eaten. In February, the last month of the program, children who have completed their marathons receive a medal and a t-shirt.

--Written by Sally Pak

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