“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”

From A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

Over the last two weekends, my kids ran two different fun runs. (That’s my youngest in the photo)

One was sponsored and coordinated by the local hospital, with the goal of promoting health and fitness. The other was sponsored and promoted by a school, with the goal of raising funds for the financial aid fund.

One had post-race entertainment consisting of healthy homemade foods, a variety of physical activities, and a live band playing kids’ music. The other had a free can of soda pop for each kid that ran.

Pop Can Fun Run

The Pop Can Fun Run drew hundreds of local kids between the ages of 2 and 10 to have fun and promote health and fitness. The race was run in heats by age (2 year old race, 3 year old race, etc.). The 2 through 4 year olds ran down the block about 0.1 miles. The 5 through 10 year olds ran down the block and back, about 0.2 miles. Boys and girls ran in separate heats, and it was especially great to see so many girls at the race! (The photo above is the start of the 5 year old girls race)

Yet, with all its potential, the Pop Can Fun Run left a bad taste in my mouth. Despite the event being sponsored and run by the local hospital, right next to the hospital, to supposedly promote health and fitness, each participant (including the 2 year olds) could claim their own can of soda pop after they ran.

Pop Can Fun Run finisher’s tent

Something just doesn’t sit right with me when a hospital hands out free sodas to kids. Yes, they did need to run for it. But is that what we’ve come to? We need to bribe our kids with soda to get them to come out to a race?

“I’d do anything for a soda — I’d even run!”

I should expect higher standards from a hospital, and yet somehow I’m not surprised. What a great event for educating the public! Yet there were no nutrition pamphlets or advice to be seen, no nurses talking to families about how to keep their kids healthy, and no displays or activities promoting fitness. Wasting such a golden opportunity for public health education would have been bad enough, but handing out free soda to kids took the cake.

For more on why I think handing out sodas to kids is such a bad idea, check out my previous post on the scary truth about sugar for runners.

CVMS 5K and 1 Mile Family Fun Run

Although not as well attended as the Pop Can Fun Run, the CVMS 5K and 1 Mile Family Fun Run (which drew less than 200 participants across both events) was outstanding! Sponsored by the Chemung Valley Montessori School, the purpose of this event was “to help our students, families, and communities focus on the benefits and fun of fitness while fundraising and supporting those in need.”

Both the 5K and 1 Mile events were kid-friendly — and in many cases entire families ran together. The entire 1 mile course, and the majority of the 5K course, went out and back on a rail trail (pictured below). Some kids ran the whole way. Some ran and walked. Some stopped to pick flowers or look for birds in the marshland adjacent to the trail.

CVMS 1 Mile Family Fun Run

After the race, kids and families were welcomed onto the school playground to enjoy homemade food including (but not limited to) a variety of fresh fruits, hummus, pasta salad, and granola bars. An inflatable was set up next to the kids’ band so the children could bounce away what energy they had left after running while the band played kid-friendly music like “Cheese Man”.

All in all it was a fabulous family event — just what a family fun run should be.

So what do you think? Am I being too hard on the hospital? Chime in with your comments below!

Do you ever wonder why kids grow up wanting to be Michael Jordan, but not Ryan Hall? Or if distance running will ever be able to match the popularity and advertising budgets of MLB?

The article then goes on to speculate how showcasing events online through new media or making races more spectator-friendly can lead to an upsurge in popularity for running.

Interesting ideas, but they’re based on the flawed assumptions that more popular equals better and that professional athletes who can be idolized by the masses are a necessary ingredient for attracting the masses.

This connection to athletes and spectators is vital in creating a growing and loyal fan base. … “There is an obvious connection between the masses and the professional athletes, some of whom began as mid-packers.”

Bigger isn’t better

For all the millions and millions of baseball fans out there, how many of them actually play? Maybe they played in little league or scraped up stickball games when they were kids, but I would speculate that the vast majority of adult baseball fans are spectators — and that spectating does nothing to advance the sport. Sure, it brings in billions of dollars of revenue and gives people something to talk about at work the next day. But it also creates problems like the Barry Bonds steroids scandal.

Is this what we want for running? As it is, running is already plagued with its share of blood doping and other scandals. Fortunately, if you Google “running scandal” you find lots of scandals, but nothing related to running until you get to the bottom of the page. Try the same thing for “baseball scandal” and you get pages and pages of examples of exactly what we don’t want to happen to running.

Don’t spectate, participate!

The other downside to the media glitz and high profile image of professional sports, like baseball, is that it actually reduces family participation. Kids no longer want to play ball with Dad. Dad isn’t good enough anymore. They’ll sit on the couch or in a stadium and watch a ballgame with Dad while he drinks a [few] beer[s]. But instead of playing ball as a family in the backyard, Mom and Dad shuttle their kids off to endless T-Ball and Little League games in hopes that they can be good enough to make Varsity in high school, and then play ball in college. And while Junior has dreams of getting drafted and growing up to be just like Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa, Mom and Dad continue to watch from the sidelines.

I think the beauty of running is that it isn’t spectator-friendly. The only way to enjoy running is to participate! And through participation, we turn an individual endeavor of striving to achieve milestones of new distance records and PR’s into a community event where it’s more about supporting each other than competing against each other.

I don’t expect my kids to grow up being active and fit because they want to be just like Usain Bolt. But I do hope that in time they will emulate my commitment to running and physical fitness because I can set an example for them that may show them how to live happier and healthier lives.

And it is in this way that Running gives each of us the opportunity to be better role models for our kids and our families than Barry Bonds could ever be.

No running in Mrs. Obama’s plan?

I, along with the rest of the fitness community I’m sure, applaud our First Lady’s commitment to fighting youth obesity. This is an epidemic in our country which has long been ignored and it’s wonderful to see it getting some serious attention. But is it missing something? Donald Buraglio and Mike Dove of montereyrunninglife.com point out in The Herald Monterey County that she has neglected to include running:

Maybe we’re paranoid, but we’ll put this one out there … we’re a bit offended that the Surgeon General’s “Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation 2010″ says children should have 60 minutes a day of vigorous exercise but doesn’t mention running. Included in the activity examples are softball, racquetball, kayaking (Really? In inner cities?), skating, mall walking, and washing the car, but somehow running didn’t make the list.

I couldn’t agree more!

See, here’s the thing: running is the simplest, cheapest, most accessible and most effective means of exercise there is. Although we risk offending the kayaking or shuffleboard lobbies by saying so, we feel our sport deserves a much higher profile in fitness programs.

It’s almost hard to imaging kids at play outdoors without running. Running has always been a core activity of children’s playtime, and as such should be a vital part of any children’s fitness initiative. Thank you Donald and Mike for pointing out this flaw in the program!

So what should we do about it? I think we should let the First Lady know how we feel. Unfortunately the blog on letsmove.gov does not have a comments section, but they also have a Facebook page. So go ahead and post a comment on their wall! Let’s not let running get overlooked.

Cops and Kids

Is it possible for a parent to ever be excited about having their own children chased by cops? It is if it’s during the Spring Training Classic 10K Cops-n-Kids Fun Run in Jupiter, Florida!

The run takes place on March 5th, 2010 and finishes at home plate in Roger Dean Stadium with the kids being led by a police motorcycle and accompanied (chased?) by officers. Additionally, there will be a Mobile Command Vehicle, a SWAT team, and K9 officers available for instructional tours.

What a great way to promote family fitness and public safety, while introducing our neighborhood heroes — police — to kids in a friendly environment. Kudos to the towns of Abacoa and Jupiter for this fabulous event! I hope it serves as an inspiration to towns and communities across the country.

Losing focus on your running goals?

How are you doing with your running and fitness goals? How is the rest of your family doing?

As the Holidays pass and we become re-absorbed into the activities of our daily lives, it gets easier and easier to find excuses — especially at this time of year. It’s too cold to run outside … It’s too dark to run in the morning … It’s too dark to run in the evening … I’m getting tired of the treadmill and wish I could just run outside … I’ll just skip today … I’ll get back on track tomorrow …

Publish your running goals and keep track

One of the best ways to make sure you don’t slack off is to publish your running and fitness goals and track your progress. It doesn’t have to be complicated. One technique is to just post your goal in big letters on the fridge or the family bulletin board — DADDY WILL RUN 3 TIMES A WEEK. Then keep a log sheet handy and write down each time you complete a workout or otherwise make progress towards your goal.

You can also use some great online tools to make your goals public.

• Daytum.com is a simple and attractive site where you can post goals and track metrics for free. This is the site I’m using to aggregate and track my Run 48 States progress. Create your page in a few minutes, then post it on Facebook, Twitter, or email it to friends that you know will keep you honest.
• MapMyRun.com (affiliate link) is a comprehensive site that lets you log workouts, publish them to your Facebook and Twitter accounts automatically, and view metrics in a variety of different ways. Better yet, if you get your running friends on it as well, you can link your profiles and see what your friends have been doing to keep each other honest.
• Runkeeper.com is another online option that is a bit more streamlined than MapMyRun. It has less functionality, but is much easier to use and is better designed. You input your workouts on your iPhone (support for other devices coming in the future) through the RunKeeper app available through the App Store for free. RunKeeper then charts your progress both on your iPhone, and on their website. It integrates nicely with the GPS capabilities of the iPhone, plotting your course on a map during your run and providing statistics for distance and pace. It also integrates nicely with Facebook and Twitter, and allows you to build a network of running buddies called your “Street Team.”

There are plenty more out there. These are just the ones I’ve used. If you have a great suggestion, let us know about it by leaving a comment!

Rely on your family for support

Believe it or not, your family wants you to be successful in your running and fitness goals. Think about how you feel about them. Don’t you want your spouse to be healthy? Don’t you want to help your spouse find time to work out? Don’t you want your kids to be healthy and to realize their goals? Well your family wants that for you too.

You should have shared your fitness goals with your family when you set them. If you didn’t, share them now. OK, maybe not right now, but do it today. Make sure your family knows what you’re trying to achieve, and that they understand why.

Then ask them for help. If you are starting to find yourself struggling to keep up with your commitments to yourself, tell them what your challenges are. While you’re at it, don’t make it all about you. Ask them how they’re doing on their fitness goals. Work together as a family, as a team, to really understand what each of you wants to achieve — and then support each other and help each other be successful.

Working together and keeping your lines of communication open helps your entire family support each other. You can celebrate each other’s successes. You can help each other deal with challenges as they come up. You can use your running and fitness goals to bring your family together, and keep each other on track.

This week’s Sunday USA Weekend newspaper insert contained a brief article entitled “How to sneak fitness into your children’s lives” (online version here), highlighting a book by Larysa Didio called Sneaky Fitness: Fun, Foolproof Ways to Slip Fitness into Your Child’s Everyday Life.

For some reason, the article troubled me as I was reading it, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. After all, anything espousing fitness for kids has to be good, right?

And then I figured out what was bugging me so much.

Family fitness is not something you should “sneak” in

Family fitness is not the same as hiding the dog’s medicine in his dogfood. It’s not something that’s supposed to be good for you, yet so unpalatable that you need to sneak it in.

Somehow, deceiving our children holds a strange attraction on parents. From Santa, to the Easter Bunny, to the Tooth Fairy — tricking our kids has become part of our parental culture.

One day my kids used a kit to make little colorful martians out of gel. When they weren’t looking, the martians disappeared because “their spaceship took off!” For the next half hour, I would make the martians keep reappearing somewhere else in the house when the kids were looking the other direction so that they could be rediscovered to squeals of delight moments later. The kids had fun with it. We had fun with it. But I don’t think our kids will grow up into adults who believe that little martians really did fly around our house that day.

I also don’t think that parents expect their kids to grow up believing in Santa, or the Easter Bunny, or Leprechauns, or all the other cute little pranks we play on our innocent children. So if we expect our kids to figure out our subterfuge as they mature and grow out of it, then why would they not also “grow out of” our fitness subterfuge?

If the only way you can get your kids to stay fit is by sneaking exercise into their lives, what happens when they grow up and move out? Parents should be preparing their kids to live their lives on their own by helping them learn how to make good choices, not by pushing our choices on them through stealth.

Family fitness should be something fun! It should be something you want to do with your kids, and also something that your kids want to do with you. It’s not just about doing it because it’s good for you. It’s about enjoying activities together, and enjoying a healthier lifestyle together.

So how do you make family fitness enjoyable?

On this count, the article pretty much has it right — create fun challenges; give them the tools (although I don’t particularly see how replacing dining-table chairs with fitness balls could possibly end well); and be fit together.

I think the more open you are with your kids about fitness, the more they see you living a healthy lifestyle, and the more you include them in your activities, the more you will all enjoy fitness together.

People are catching on. People want to have fun with their families and they want to have healthy families. Families want to do fun and active things together, and more and more resources are becoming available to help families do just that. (In fact, there’s a great website in my blogroll focused entirely on how to make fitness fun with your family.)

Take a walk with your kids, play tag, go orienteering together, go on a bike ride, go swimming, set up an ad-hoc obstacle course in the backyard. Do anything, just do it together. Your kids will keep begging you for more, and you won’t have to sneak it in.

In all fairness, I haven’t actually read the book in question (and, frankly, am not adding it to my book list after this article), but I ask anyone who has to please comment below with your views. And if you have some creative ideas for including kids in fun and healthy activities, please share them in the comments!