NIGHT OUT AT THE TRACK (A KR DREAM) Family track series that you could try in your town. Everyone's Invited | The Competitions |The Food & Frills | Info: Links to American Heart Association Recommendations Feature & Photos by Carol Goodrow, KR/RW WHY EVERYONE? Family nights out are often spent at the mall, restaurant, or movies. If sports are involved, one or two members may participate while the others watch. Americans just plain aren't getting enough exercise. Every time you pick up a health journal you read about it. And if you don't exercise while you can, there's a chance that exercise will someday be prescribed by your physician to help combat a disease or condition that you've already contracted, so why not get on the move now. With a family track night, there's no need for a sitter for you're all out there together supporting each other. One of the most common excuses parents have for not exercising is that they just don't have time with all the carting kids around they must do. So here's another reason to involve everyone in a family exercise night. It's sound time management in our hustle and bustle of a world. KIDS, PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, VOLUNTEERS, AND COACHES WARM UP TOGETHER 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. The evening starts with a 10 - 30 minute warm up for all tracksters: the coach, parents, and even the volunteers. Everyone walks, jogs, skips, runs, or sprints. After the first lap, families and friends take a little time to stretch before completing their laps. This warm up is one of the most important happenings of the family night at the track. Exercise is for everyone from the youngest to the oldest. The benefits are many. Want to really pep things up? Add a nice sound system and some music. This will keep people moving along. A COMMUNITY IS FORMED When everyone participates, the group will feel more united. It will be more inviting to participants to return the next week. Instead of parents standing on the sidelines thinking, "It looks like it would be fun to run on that track," they actually become one of the tracksters at a night outat the track. ROLE MODELS ARE ALL AROUND When kids work out with adults their bank of role models multiplies rapidly, for within this group they will certainly see adults who exemplify perseverance, skill, courage, and achievement as the weeks move along. And I dare say that some adults will draw their strength from seeing determination in their kids and adopt the lifestyle of an athlete: the lifestyle that the kids already have chosen. HEALTH & FITNESS IS THE MESSAGE No matter the age, the goal for the warm up is to work up to 30 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise (with a stretching break). This is something that is recommended daily for adults throughout life. With endurance being the measure, people can work at their own pace and with their own means of ambulation. Tracksters can take walking breaks, try different kinds of locomotion, vary their speed, build in some drills, speed walk with hand weights; anything goes. The very youngest ones can keep up as long as they want but when they get tired, they can play on the grass in the center of the track and then join in again. Have high school volunteer 'kid watchers', on hand to help out with them. For the kids (and adults on alternate weeks) who feel the need for more intensity, there will be competitive opportunities to follow, but it's important that even the runners who are going to compete participate in this warm up. Remember it's for everyone; even the ticket taker. AWARDS TO ALL PARTICIPANTS All tracksters (parents, kids, volunteers, and coach) should receive a participant award at the end of the series, for attending a designated number of 'warm ups'. Have a way to track who's attending, then plan that award evening early and let people know what to expect. THE COMPETITIONS Kids love to race. It's human nature. If the distance is short enough, you can't stop kids from turning a run into a race and with racing comes winning and losing. Through racing, in the right setting, with the right attitude, kids will develop GRACE at winning and losing, qualities that will help them in life. A night out at the track would alternate between kids' races one week and adults the next, throughout the series. This week the kids are racing so please read on. THE DRAMA It's now time for the kids' track events. If you're observant you can see a story in every race, but if you are a dreamer with an imagination you can see art and beauty in athletics. Watching racers' form, cadence, and facial expressions is like watching a fine film and as you watch you can relate the race to the genre of your choice: art, war, documentary, family, sports, love, and sometimes even comedy. Seeing athletes' musculature as they run is like visiting an animated art museum in Italy. All this at your local track meet. THE SPORTSMANSHIP Time and again your runners need to be reminded that winning is doing the best that you can, meeting a goal, and competing with grace; that is grace of winning and of losing. Kids need to learn to turn around and shake hands with the kids who finish around them, cheer for the other runners, and be proud of how they have done. There's always another week to make that goal or to do a little better. Some may have a chance to someday be a winner in the sense of being the first to cross that line, others may 'win' by just setting a new PR, or by finding an event that they are best suited to. Obviously only a small number of kids can be the first to cross their lines tonight, but all of the kids who embrace athletics as a means of healthy competition or staying fit are winners in the game of life. THE AWARDS AND THE JOY OF WINNING It is a common practice to give participation ribbons to all kid competitors and special ribbons to the first finishers. This is a good practice and is one that should be maintained. Kids also love to have their photos taken with their awards, so bring a camera and make a big deal out of their successes. It is with grace that people learn to smile and show joy in achievements of others. THE COMPASSION If your eyes are open, you'll see it. If you're a competitor, you might feel it. It's in the hug and smile of a brother telling his sister he's proud of her and he knows what it's like to be scared. It's in the handshake of a winner who turns to sincerely congratulate the person who finished next. And it's in the crowd that encourages the child who comes in last. If you don't see any of this at your meet then it's your job to make it happen. Start the cheering. Start the congratulating, or be at the finish line to show someone you care. FOOD & THEN THE FRILLS It's late. No one's had supper. Everyone is going to be hungry. The tempting thing to do is to bring junk food, fast food or a candy bar but wait... The message is health and fitness and with that comes nutrition and healthy eating, so plan for the night and pack some healthy snacks to eat during or after the meet. Encourage the meet director to provide healthy food for participants. People can bring their own coolers of food for their families or get food from a concession stand run by high school students for community service. By definition, frills aren't necessary for your series, but just maybe you'll one of the suggestions below will be just right for your group. Please read on. HEALTHY SNACK CONCESSION STAND Work with the schools in setting this up as a volunteer project, then help the kids stock it with snacks. Either charge for the snacks, solicit donations from area businesses, or use an admission fee to buy the foods. Keep it simple but think healthy. Stock with lots of fruit, bags of various kinds of nuts, popcorn, yogurt, granola bars, water, juice, and cut up veggies. HEALTHY SNACK LITERATURE As another part of the community service project, have high school students prepare a flier for kids about healthy snacking. It can contain facts, research or occasional healthy snack recipes. Give this project to a bunch of creative enthusiastic high schoolers and they'll get the message across to the kids and their families. THE FRILLS Here's a quick list of optional activities that can spice up your series: Invite local celebrities, town officials, or police officers etc. to join you at the meets. Add an old fashioned field day. Perhaps as your last meet. Design a series T-shirt, singlet, sweatshirt, or cap and sell or give out as awards at end of series. Award the kids toe tokens for each meet they attend. They string these colorful plastic feet on their shoe laces. THE BASICS You must feel healthier and you MUST have fun. INFORMATION Resources, references, and links about team programs. AHA Recommendations For Adults The AHA recommends that people work up to 30 minutes of vigorous cardiovascular exercise on a daily basis. AHA Recommendations For Kids The AHA recommends that kids participate in family outings that incorporate exercise. Carolina Godiva Track Club Summer Track Here's an example of a summer series that has something for all members of the family. For more info contact Charles Alden at cjalden@mindspring.com. Carolina Godiva Track Club The above is a fictitious account of a type of family track series that KidsRunning.Com would like to see happen in many communities. The photos are from the youth track meets in Attleboro, MA. If you exercise as a family or a community, please let us know. We'd love to hear all about it.