Marathon Kids Running Club

By:

Marathon Kids 4th Grade Finishers!

Building a quality physical education program is lot like building a winning football team. It’s about the partnerships you build with other invested organizations in your community and the hard work you put forth to ensure these connections continue to grow and flourish.

This year, as my first year at Hutsell Elementary and my first year in Katy ISD I knew I wanted to make a positive impact on my students. I wanted them to know that anything is possible if they were willing to eat healthy, get active and make a difference in their community. 

In January I applied for and was awarded a Marathon Kids Active Schools grant for my school, for about $1800. Hutsell was one of just 199 schools nationwide to receive this grant. Having been a Marathon Kids teacher, and a personal fundraiser for MK, in the Houston Half marathon for the past 4 years, I was so excited because I had seen how the Marathon Kids program had transformed my students. 

I knew bringing Marathon Kids to Hutsell would have a positive impact on my school and community and I was right! 

Marathon Kids is a non-profit program that teaches child the importance of eating healthy and getting active, by having students log the miles they run at school or at home. This year MK partnered with Nike so students could earn cool rewards such as Nike finisher shirts, shoe laces, shoe tags and wristbands after finishing 1, 2, 3, and 4 marathons during the season.

Our program started in January of this year. In just 4 months, 114 students had run at least 1 marathon, 39 students had run at least 2 marathons, 18 students had run at least 3 marathons, and 11 students completed 4 marathons or 104.8 miles! As a running club, our students logged more than 4,800 miles! Talk about increasing MVPA! Students were not only logging more miles, but they were reporting more time being outside and being active with their families. Also students reported choosing fruits and vegetables over other unhealthy food choices more often.  

Students would walk into the gym in the morning for class and be so excited to show me the latest running log they had completed with their family over the weekend or to tell me about playing soccer with their relatives. Students were excited to get active and to be healthy and it was improving their relationships with family members as well.

I’m so grateful for the opportunities Marathon Kids and Fuel Up to Play 60 has provided to Hutsell students this year. We plan to continue the Marathon Kids and Fuel Up To Play 60 program at Hutsell next year and to open up our running club to even more families and students on the journey to get active and healthy. The momentum to get healthy at Hutsell has started and there’s no stopping us now!