Dear Editor Carol,

Hi!

My name is Caroline, and me and my best friend are starting to get ready for track for this coming year. My friend is very heavy and I am pretty skinny but not too skinny. But every time I go to the track with her she never runs!

I know that she is heavier then me and I'm more flexible than her but I want her to be skinnier!

I always give her healthy foods (I know about every healthy snack there is) and she always come to the track with me, but is there anything we can do together while I m up at the track, to get her fit? From the both of us.

Dear Caroline,

If your friend really wants to run, then I would suggest going an extra time a week to the track just for her. I would bet that she can't run as far or as fast as you, so you could help her get started at her own pace. Take a stop watch along.

Here's what you do. Start out at an easy pace. Walk for 1 minute and then run for 1 minute. Stretch. Talk to her and find out if she wants to up the running to 2 minutes the next interval. Keep it an easy pace your first time there. Use the session to see how far and how long she feels comfortable running. Make sure to talk to her while you run. Being able to talk while you run is a good measure of if the pace is appropriate. You're not even thinking about 'speed' at this point.

My suspicion is that she is out of shape and needs to start all over again. I wouldn't even expect her to run one lap without stopping at this point. Make it her training session and be her running buddy for that extra session a week.

The weight is a bit tougher. Of course, exercise will help your buddy trim down. It is important that she starts thinking about her diet at home. Yes, healthy snacks are great, but if she is eating them in addition to here other diet, they probably won't help her weight that much.

Diet suggestions for kids include, healthy snacks INSTEAD of junk food, small food portioning, the food pyramid as a guide, and real juice, skim milk, or water INSTEAD of sugary soft drinks.

Best of luck to your friend.

It often takes a little bit of sacrificing on your part to get a friend started running, but the end rewards of having someone with whom you can share your love of running makes it all worthwhile.

Do you have any questions about a child's running program? Feel free to email the kid's editor at carol.kids@rodale.com.