CENTENNIAL — Ordinarily it would be annoying to see a kid running around in a store while more than a dozen people are being fitted for new shoes. But it was heartwarming to watch Saul Martinez doing laps at the Boulder Running Company DTC store last week, trying out his new shoes.
“I run so fast in these shoes,” said Martinez, a first- grader at Johnson Elementary in Denver.
Martinez was one of 20 kids whose leadership in a running program at the school earned them free running shoes, thanks to the Beacon Neighborhood Center and the Boulder Running Co.
“I like to run,” Martinez said. “Running makes me strong.”
Put that in a public service announcement about the juvenile obesity epidemic and strategies to reverse it. Throw in the miles and smiles stemming from the school’s “It’s Your Marathon” program, which has the kids running 25 miles over several weeks and finishing their “marathon” at a school celebration May 19. The entire school is involved — more than 350 kids.
“These guys are little ambassadors for the whole school of completing the marathon distance,” said Kerry Vargo, executive director of Kids Running America, as she watched the jubilant Johnson kids try on their new shoes.
In another Kids Running America event, more than 600 will run their Final Mile Saturday as part of Colfax Marathon events taking place at City Park.
“The whole idea is to get them healthy, active, moving,” Vargo said. “But we don’t want them to do it just one time a year. We want to plant a seed of a lifetime of health and fitness.”
Childhood obesity has become a national disgrace. Obesity rates among children have increased fivefold over the past four decades. Nearly 25 million children are overweight or obese.
You can blame computers or television. You can blame lazy, overweight or overworked parents. You can blame fast food, or the elimination of physical education in schools. Pick any villain you like.
But the fattening of today’s youth is a tragedy. Some experts say the current generation could be the first in the history of the country to live shorter lives than their parents.
My generation has been responsible for a lot of things we ought to regret, but we runners can be proud of the running boom that transformed the concept of health and fitness. Those of us who have been running since the big bang of the boom in the 1970s can be proud that running for competition or health continues to grow. There are more marathon runners today than ever before.
Maybe we can do something to reverse the obesity trend. We have to try.
“It’s never been more important,” said Mary Wittenberg, president and chief executive of the New York Road Runners. “When the boom generation started running, it was all about the desire to participate in a sport, it wasn’t about fighting obesity and diabetes. Now the sport we believe so much in can help in a wide variety of ways — helping kids stay focused in school, helping kids stay out of gangs, and (addressing) what is our greatest need, helping kids not become obese.”
Toward that end, the New York Road Runners has produced a series of 83 videos explaining how adults can assist kids in starting a running program. The videos can be viewed free of charge online.
Our sport is stronger than ever. More than 1,000 have registered for Sunday’s Colfax Marathon, as compared with 762 last year. The number for the marathon, half marathon and marathon relay exceeds 8,000.
In three weeks we will see another 50,000 running and walking in the Bolder Boulder, and 2,500 of them will be part of that race’s program for elementary and middle school children — as compared with 1,300 last year.
We need to turn those running starts into lifetime commitments to fitness. If you could have seen those kids getting their new shoes the other day, you’d feel that calling in your heart.
Videos give kids “Running Start”
The New York Road Runners have produced a series of videos advising adults on how to start running programs for children.
Called “A Running Start,” the videos are aimed at coaches, parents and physical education teachers and are tailored to different age groups ranging from kindergarten to high school.
“Our entire reason for being, at the New York Road Runners, is to help people through running,” said Mary Wittenberg, president and chief executive. “We created the videos to help increase the popularity of youth running and to help (improve) the quality of coaching so these kids can learn to run in a safe, enjoyable way.”
Topics include warming up, stretching, form, pacing, games and cooling down. The videos are free to view online: .
John Meyer, The Denver Post
