“Mighty Milers” expands to schools nationwide

While the average age of a marathon runner is 40, thousands of children, some as young as four, know what it takes to complete the 26.2 miles and have marathon finisher medals to prove it. These young runners are members of Mighty Milers, a New York Road Runners Foundation program, where kids from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade learn to run and accumulate one to four "marathons of miles" (26.2-104.8 miles) during the school year.

The program is backed by an online system where students track their progress, awards and goals on personalized web pages.

After launching successful pilot sites in other states the New York Road Runners Foundation is taking Mighty Milers nationwide. This school year they will support 150 free Mighty Milers programs in underserved schools and community centers outside of New York City . To help spur this growth, the Foundation is also awarding a $1,000 grant to a Mighty Milers site in every state, plus the District of Columbia .

“Our vision,” says Executive Director Cliff Sperber, “is to make running a part of every child’s school day.”

In a time when more than 30% of U.S. children are overweight or obese and one in three children born today will develop diabetes, programs like Mighty Milers are essential to help instill healthy habits in our kids.

The program has other reported benefits, including lower rates of office referrals and improved attention and behavior. The program offers online and off-line resources including personal support and training, corresponding classroom lesson plans, fitness and nutrition information, plus instructions on how to use Mighty Milers to fundraise as an alternative to candy sales.

Schools and community centers can apply to become Mighty Milers sites at www.mightymilers.org/apply and download the Live, Learn and Play grant application on the New York Road Runners Foundation website: http://www.nyrrfoundation.org.