Sometimes the students run circles around their teacher, and in Ronda Ary's case, that's a good thing.
When Ary runs with her students, she feels on top of the world, knowing she's making an impact on their lives.
"Running is good for everything," says Ary, a physical education teacher at Sneed Elementary School in Houston. "It really gets the endorphins going. It keeps you strong mentally and physically, and you can do it your entire life. I see people running in their 80s and 90s."
She enrolled the school last year in Mighty Milers, a nationwide running program that teaches children in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade how to set realistic goals and find success. Those opportunities, she says, aren't always readily available in the underprivileged neighborhoods where her students live.
The New York Road Runners, the club that founded the New York City Marathon in 1970 (this year's marathon is Nov. 4), started the Mighty Milers program seven years ago. It now involves 125,000 children in 620 schools in 50 states. By raising money from New York City Marathon proceeds, the NYRR offers free programs to the schools.
Fitness level doesn't matter, Ary says. Students are encouraged to run or walk briskly up to a half-mile in supervised sessions two to five times a week. She tracks their mileage on the NYRR website. When the kids "complete" a marathon, NYRR provides them with a medal. That's when Ary cranks up the music from Rocky or the Olympics and stages award ceremonies.
"When I was able to put a medal around one girl's neck last year, she said it was the happiest day of her life," Ary says. "The kids stand up taller. For many of them, this is the only sports program they can be involved in because their families don't have very much money. Mighty Milers is their team."
A primary reason for establishing the program is to tackle childhood obesity, says Cliff Sperber, NYRR's vice president of youth and community services.
"We think that physical activity should be a core element of a child's education and not something that is eliminated during a budget crisis -- especially during the obesity crisis this country is facing," Sperber says.
About 32% of kids and adolescents ages 2 to 19 are obese or overweight, according to the government.
Ary says some students are already overweight by the time they are in kindergarten: "They weigh more than 100 pounds, are fighting asthma and diabetes and are tired all the time."
She wants to get as many students moving as possible. Last year, more than 1,150 signed up for Mighty Milers; they logged 63,530 miles. They did most of their running in a park next to the school because the school didn't have a track. "But it really isn't a safe neighborhood where the park is," she says, "so our school built an asphalt track for the kids."
A dedication of the track is planned for Nov. 12. That's cause for a victory lap, Sperber says.
"We measure the success of Mighty Milers by how it affects the culture at the school," he says.
Ary, 50, is picking up speed. She wants to recruit other teachers at Sneed to take part in Mighty Milers. She's also planning the second annual family Fun Run, an event Citgo sponsored last year. Recent findings from the Copenhagen City Heart study showed that regular jogging can increase life expectancy by 6.2 years for men and 5.6 years for women.
In her spare time, she'll fine-tune her own running. She completed her first marathon last year. "I'm not sure why I waited so long in life," she says, "but I decided marathons will be a big part of my next 50 years."
How far can these children go?
New York Road Runners guidelines for safe distances:
Pre K-1st grade: mile per session
2nd-3rd grade: mile to 1 mile
4th -6th grade: Begin with 1 mile, work toward 3 miles
7th grade and older: Begin with 1 mile, work toward 3-6.2 miles
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