Be The Best Of Whatever You Are

If you can't be a pine on the top of a hill

Be a scrub in the valley, but be the best little scrub on the side of the hill

Be a bush if you can't be a tree,

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass

And some highway happier make.

If you can't be a muskie, then just be a bass,

But the liveliest bass in the lake.

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here.

There's big work to do and there's lesser work, too,

And the thing we must do is the near

If you can't be a highway, then just be a trail.

If you can't be the sun, be a star.

It isn't by size that you win or you fail.

Be the best of whatever you are.

Douglas Maloch

Medal Ceremonies: A Montage from 2010

(Running) teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. 

This is what it's all about.

-PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian 

Medal Ceremonies!

100 Mile Club in Big Bear, CA  awarding Ryan Hall his honorary 100 Mile Club Medal before the 2008 Olympics

The 100 Mile Club® Medal Ceremony has its origins right in my little classroom, and began the first year of The 100 Mile Club Project over 18 years ago. It is almost time for yours! The medallions this year are fabulous and so meaningful!  I can't wait to see them on kids! 

You need to know that...

• The 100 Mile Club® does not formally identify (aka- We DO NOT give out medals early) or announce individuals who hit 100 miles until the end of the year awards presentation. Some individuals make 100 miles by mid-January…We let these individuals savor the inner rewards that come from humility, poise, confidence and friendship as they help others reach their goals, too. We ask that these individuals reach inside themselves and set new personal goals in order to reach their true level of competitive greatness.

Now that some kids are reaching 100 miles...

• They should keep running. They ran 100 miles with ease, and so they need to strive to hit THEIR personal best...whatever that may be. It may be 120, 150, or even 200! That is something the child needs to decide for him/herself.  We want them to practice the life-skills of poise and confidence. Feel that pride and refrain from boasting. We will celebrate their personal best at the medal ceremony. We promise.
• They should help their friends. They are now a true role model. Others will look to them and seek their assistance, right along with you as HEAD COACH. Students who reach 100 miles become MENTORS themselves.
• They can pull together a group to run together as a team...Kids who reach 100 miles  have the opportunity to show true friendship, cooperation, and team spirit as they bring their classmates along so may all reach their personal best...TOGETHER!!

We ask that you schedule your medal ceremonies to allow as much time as possible to get those miles in.  Don't cut off too early (or too late!). 

• Medal Ordering can begin in April.  PLEASE allow at least 14 days from the date you place your order to receive your medals and certificates.  All you pay is shipping. You can always come pick them up if you are local. You will definitely get them faster that way.  :)

Having fun on the journey to 100 miles! That's what it's all about...

Here are MEDAL CEREMONY basics:

1. EVERYONE receives a certificate with the total miles run/walked written in and signed by the Site head Coach/es. Even if they walked 1 mile, they are recognized for making the effort.

2. Each Incentive Package comes with a certificate, so you are eligible for the total number you have ordered.  If you need more, let us know...

3. Make sure that everyone wears their 100 Mile Club® t-shirt the day of the ceremony. It is spectacularly unifying to have everyone in their tees, and it LOOKS really cool! Take pictures!

4. Only those who run/walk 100 miles will receive a medal. Everyone knows this going in, so it is no surprise. Trust me when I say that the medal is a huge motivator, and so is the recognition by one’s peers. The will work for it, and if they don’t quite make it, you celebrate anyway.

5. No you do not get 2 medals for 200 miles.

6. Have FUN! Ceremonies can be any of (but of course not limited to) the following:

• A School-wide Assembly. These can be wild and crazy, or dignified and noble. You make it what you want… have balloons, make a slideshow, have music, invite local dignitaries.
• A Family/Company Potluck, Picnic, or BBQ. Yes, families and businesses can be a 100 Mile Club® chapter, too! You can end the year with a group picnic at the beach, lake, or local park.
• A Reflective Year-End Classroom Activity. This is actually how the ceremony began in my classroom. We invited all of the families of our individuals and spoke of each individuals’ achievements, as we announced their miles and presented medals and final certificates.
• Individual Classroom Visits...aka MEDAL Patrol!  As done by Orange Elementary School in 2009-10! They traveled from room to room with medals, certificates, loud music, a tiger mascot, and a rather large bullhorn! It worked!

Nolan in our Governor's Council Gold Medal. 

In sum, what you need to know is that The 100 Mile Club® Medal Ceremony is something that should be meaningful to you, your colleagues, and your participants. You are creating tradition with this, so plan well and make sure to always have FUN!!

Your site is eligible for the same number of certificates as you have Incentive Packages. For example, if your school has ordered 250 Incentive packages, your school is eligible for 250 certificates. We will add in extras in case you mess up. :)

Additionally, you will get medals for those participants who have crossed the 100 Mile point. PLEASE only order what you need. Again, we will add in extras for you "just in case". Ordering only what you need will ensure that we keep our costs down in the years to come.

Soon, you will receive a form in which you may include your order for these certificates and medals. They are already paid for...you just need to cover shipping.  PLEASE allow at least 14 day window for medal and certificate delivery. DON'T WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE. It will make us and you freak out.

Medal ceremony time is SO exciting! Make sure to set those ceremony dates and let us know when they are.

Jenson USA Spirit Award Nominations NOW OPEN Through February 19!!

The Jenson USA Spirit Award will be awarded to five (5) 100 Mile Club® Participants who embody the true spirit of The 100 Mile Club® at their school or place of participation. Recipients will receive a new, awesome bicycle courtesy of Jenson USA and personal recognition by 100 Mile Club® Officials both in-person and on the 100 Mile Club® website. Awards will be presented at our 2011 Run 4 Kids on March 19, 2011 at Auburndale Intermediate School. ALL 100 Mile Club® Participants in grades K-12 are eligible.

Nominations will be accepted until midnight on February 19, 2011 and award recipients will be notified through their school or site Head Coaches. Recipients within California are highly encouraged to attend Run 4 Kids, but of course if you are out of state, other arrangements will *certainly* be made.

Click here to nominate a runner today!

Cast Your Vote for our 2011-12 100 Mile Club® Tee

Searching for Gold

Awesome SBA Head Coach, Mrs. Rand!

Searching for Gold

Look beneath the freckles

Look beneath the grin

Look for that which sparkles

Buried deep within.

Look beyond the whining

Look beyond the tears

Look beyond the runny nose

The frowns, the mess, the fears.

Search for that which glitters

Treasures to unfold

Search beneath the surface

Search and find the gold!

~Jean Warren

A little card was given to me many years ago with the above poem inscribed.  I still have it, even though I have shuffled it around and around.  Somehow it always resurfaces.

This poem is for all of our Head Coaches and teachers who do this every day. 

Two friends finishing their 100th mile...together!

Childrens Brain Development Is Linked to Physical Fitness, Research Finds

 Science Daily (Sep. 16, 2010) - Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit peers. Read more.

 

SOURCE:  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2010, September 16). Children's brain development is linked to physical fitness, research finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 3, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/09/100915171536.htm

Our Trip to Sacramento for The Governor's Council Ceremony

We did our best to document what we could on the whirlwind trip to Sacramento. I wish all of my 100 Mile Club® Kids and Families, and Coaches, and everyone could have been there with us. The whole time, I was thinking of you all...

Let's Get Technical for a Minute...seriously.

Basal ganglia volume is associated with aerobic fitness in preadolescent children.

Chaddock L, Erickson KI, Prakash RS, VanPatter M, Voss MW,

Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Hillman CH, Kramer AF.

Department of Psychology, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20693803

ABSTRACT, August 2010:  The present investigation is the first to explore the association between childhood aerobic fitness and basal ganglia structure and function. Rodent research has revealed that exercise influences the striatum by increasing dopamine signaling and angiogenesis.

In children, higher aerobic fitness levels are associated with greater hippocampal volumes, superior performance on tasks of attentional and interference control, and elevated event-related brain potential indices of executive function.

The present study used magnetic resonance imaging to investigate if higher-fit and lower-fit 9- and 10-year-old children exhibited differential volumes of other subcortical brain regions, specifically the basal ganglia involved in attentional control. The relationship between aerobic fitness, dorsal and ventral striatum volumes and performance on an attention and inhibition Eriksen flanker task was also examined.

The results indicated that...

• Higher-fit children showed superior flanker task performance compared to lower-fit children.
• Higher-fit children also showed greater volumes of the dorsal striatum, and dorsal striatum volume was negatively associated with behavioral interference.

The results support the claim that the dorsal striatum is involved in cognitive control and response resolution and that these cognitive processes vary as a function of aerobic fitness. No relationship was found between aerobic fitness, the volume of the ventral striatum and flanker performance.

The findings suggest that increased childhood aerobic fitness is associated with greater dorsal striatal volumes and that this is related to enhanced cognitive control.

Because children are becoming increasingly overweight, unhealthy and unfit, understanding the neurocognitive benefits of an active lifestyle during childhood has important public health and educational implications.

What does this all MEAN??

It means, let's get MOVIN'!
It means fit kids can pay attention more easily that their unfit peers.

It means what we are doing is helping our kids academically, physically and socially! 

It means what we are doing is working!

 

So...go! Run, move, walk, increase the volume of your basal ganglia!! At school, at home, before school, during school, after school...everywhere, all the time!  :)

GO!! 

Is there any reason NOT to?

The results are in. again.

Saying you don't have time to physically get out and move during the day because you, your students, and/or your school simply have no time and are too focused on "The Academics" is like saying you have no time to sleep because you are just too tired to be able to fit sleep in to your schedule.  Yea.  It's like that.

It just doesn't make sense.

This new study proves that exercise, optimal learning capacity, and brain development go hand in hand...in hand.

In an experiment published last month, researchers recruited schoolchildren, ages 9 and 10, who lived near the Champaign-Urbana campus of the University of Illinois and asked them to run on a treadmill. The researchers were hoping to learn more about how fitness affects the immature human brain. Read more from the NY Times blogger, Tara Parker-Pope.  She sums it up perfectly. 

100 Mile Club® Kids at Washington School in Norco ALL gather for a brisk morning jog. 

...the takeaway is clear. “More aerobic exercise” for young people, Mr. Kuhn said. Mr. Hillman agreed. So get kids moving, he added, and preferably away from their Wiis. A still-unpublished study from his lab compared the cognitive impact in young people of 20 minutes of running on a treadmill with 20 minutes of playing sports-style video games at a similar intensity.

Running improved test scores immediately afterward.

Playing video games did not. 

Source:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/phys-ed-can-exercise-make-kids-smarter/