Kids of Steel students train for upcoming children’s event
On weekly evenings in Adams Township Community Park, young children run, leap, jog and cheer for their teammates.
They’re not playing outside at recess, though. They’re getting ready to run and compete in the Chick-fil-A Pittsburgh Kids Marathon, an event held April 30, as part of the Kids of Steel training program.
Sara Coon, Mars Area School District health and physical education teacher, leads a Kids of Steel group of more than 100 students in kindergarten through sixth grade in training for the event.
While the race is called a marathon, participants will run just over 1 mile on the day of the event and are encouraged to build up the other 25 miles that normally comprise a marathon by practicing and exercising in the weeks before. Parents are encouraged to run or walk with their child on the day of the race.
“As a coach, we want to promote wellness, getting families involved, and lifelong health,” Coon said. “That is our goal, to get families involved and get everybody excited about exercising and living a longer life.”
At practices once a week at the park, students do a warmup and stretch, and run for a marked length, 3/4 mile for the younger half of the group, and 1 mile for the older half. The group then participates in team activities and runs relay races before stretching again to finish up. Students are encouraged to keep their skills fresh by practicing at home.
“(We say) 15 minutes of exercising or running or soccer is equivalent to a mile,” Coon said. “It doesn’t have to be running. We are trying to build up the endurance and pacing themselves, so they don’t take off running as fast as they can.”
Setting goals that work for each child is a big part of the program, Coon explained.
“I say to the kids that everybody is different,” Coon said. “It’s a great program for children who are not as competitive, or who don’t like team sports, and are more individual. I say, some of you might have a goal of walking the whole thing, or making sure you don’t stop, or your personal best. We talked about how everybody is different — and it’s OK to be different — and to have different goals.”
The group’s first practice run event was last week, and another was Wednesday. Coon said students have enjoyed the practices.
“We don’t want them to think it’s a lot of work. We want them to be having fun,” Coon added. “We got great feedback, and parents have stopped me in the hallway and said, ‘Ms. Coon, that was so great!’ That’s what we want, we want that excitement.”
Coon said the program has increased in popularity this year.
“This is the fourth year I have been trying to do this. My first year I had 54 runners. Then we had 2020 and nothing because it was canceled. Then last year, it wasn’t very motivating because it was a virtual run. This year, we have 135 kids signed up.”
Students signing up to run in the event can choose a team to run with when registering, so runners as part of the Mars Area group would choose the Mars K-6 group.
Registration for the program closed Thursday, Coon said, but late registrants who register after April 4 will still have a chance to participate if they pick up their bib and shirt packages on their own in Pittsburgh before the event. Those with questions can email Sara Coon at scoon@marsk12.org.
