Eastvale CARES!! Family 5K and Health Fair

It was dark when we arrived to set up for the Eastvale Cares Family 5K and Health Fair. PITCH DARK. I knew that the chill in the air was only temporary, so I didn't even bring my jacket out. Instead, I relished the cold...the heat was certainly on its way.

We were greeted by welcoming smiles and folks who, despite the early dark hour, were ready to go. Four high school volunteers helped me unload my car, and we were set up in no time.

Thank you to our volunteers:

• Dave LaVelle. His calm and kind spirit was so welcome and appreciated. Thank you to him for taking time out of his busy busy day to be with us.
• Mark and Ellie VanDoornum. Both are such enthusiastic forces within this organization. Thanks for being there, helping all of our kids get credit, and getting the word out about our upcoming Walk for Kids (March 13, 2010!)
• Samantha Troisi and Danielle Shapiro. Fabulous volunteers that came to help from Corona Fundamental Intermediate School. They were enthusiastic, efficient, and smiley. Both did a great job finding students at the Health Fair who still needed a mile credit slip for the 5K and 1-mile Fun Run. Thanks, ladies!

This was our second sanctioned run of the 2009-10 100 Mile Club® Cycle, and once again, the kids came out in force!! The following schools were represented:

Vandermolen*
Eastvale*
Orange*
Barton*
Harada
Rosa Parks
Garretson
Susan B. Anthony
McKinley
Washington
Sky Country
Corona Ranch
Corona Fundamental Intermediate

* Our top participating schools!! (Stats based on signing the 100 Mile Club Guest book and receipt of 100 Mile Club CREDIT SLIP.)

This event had such a great community spirit...families seemed happy and ready to take on the challenge of what was, for many, a first 5K!!

Chapter Profile: Tuscany Hills ES, Head Coach Michelle Sapp

My 100 Mile Club Kids!

by Michelle Sapp, 100 Mile Club Head Coach: Tuscany Hills Elementary

We are 1 month into our new 100 Mile Club Program at the boys school and all the kids are doing great! On Friday I got to already award 7 kids their 25 mile goal tshirts. Very cool! These little studs (yes, including my 2 little competitive souls) are going to hit WELL over 100 miles by the end of the school year. Got to keep up with them, I got 30 in for the month - not bad!?! All the kids, teachers and parents at the school are so excited about this program - very neat to be a part of it. Highly recommend bringing it to your kids school! http://www.100mileclub.com/














Every Friday morning before school from 7:45 - 8:45 for the last month about 100 of the students plus their parents & some teachers have been at our morning walk /run - very cool thing to see.

All the classes charts are in the multi purpose room for the kids to see their progress each week.
















These are my first 7 kids to hit the 25 mile goal! Ryan, Blake, Brandon, Willy, Bronson, Shane, Trevor...Blake already has 39 miles & Brandon 35 - crazy boys !!!!





















When they run on Friday mornings they get a mark every time they complete a lap, 4 laps = a mile. They did just a few on Friday..... Blake logged in 23 laps & Brandon 20 laps.

Earning our miles together - Cary has a little catching up to do to get his shirt!

Coach Sapp and her 100 Mile Club Kids have hit the ground running...LITERALLY! Amazing implementation and spectacular adoption of the mission and ideals of The 100 Mile Club!! Go, Tuscany Hills, GO! ~Ms. Lubin~

Developing Integrity and Honesty, or What if They Cheat??

"Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching."

Some of the most valuable and life-changing learning experiences in The 100 Mile Club occur when a student is challenged by his own sense of what is right and wrong.

So you catch a student who has been less than honest about his/her miles...what to do? Well, first, stop. Don't flip out. Take a deep breath and ask yourself *why* he/she may be exhibiting this sort of behavior. Nobody WANTS to cheat. I believe that wholeheartedly. Some confessions I have received over the years:

The Noble Cheater: AKA "But I was just trying to help...The best example of this is the boy whose grandmother was flying in from Egypt and he wanted to have his shirt when he met her at the airport. This was a rough one, because his good friend loaned him some lap sticks with a promise that he would "pay her back" the following week. This was a rough one. We sat the two down and explained that although we appreciated the thoughtfullness and teamwork, what they did was, in fact, cheating...and was quite dishonest. We had the boy return his "dishonest" sticks to his good friend, we all had a little chat, shed a few tears together, and then we gave him time to complete his laps before the plane arrived.

The superacademic overachiever who simply could NOT STAND that someone was actually "beating" him at something school-related! We reminded him that this race was only against himself and that he needs to refrain from comparing himself to others. This was not easy for him to hear. We readjusted his miles, shed a few tears (see a pattern?), and we coached him through the year, helping him recognize his own personal successes. Yes, he did make it to 100 miles, but this was one of the hardest things he had ever done at school.

The Blatantly Over-the-Top Exaggerator of Miles. This sweet child reported in an outrageous number of miles after a 10 minute jog with is class... Well, after we all looked at him with total confusion, I simply wrote down a reasonable amount, pulled him aside and kindly pretended that he didnt know how to count laps (maybe he did, maybe he didn't...it wasn't my place to judge). I retaught him, reminded him about being honest, and to ask me if he was ever unsure of how to count his miles.

So.

What should you do if you face a student with a less-than-honest tendency?

Take the student aside and ask him/her without judgement. You can say something like, I'm not sure that you have been wholly honest about your miles, and I want to help you so that when you earn your milestines it will feel really good and RIGHT. Remind them about the lifeskills of HONESTY and INTEGRITY and let them know that if they earn a milestone by being dishonest, they will know in their hearts that they cheated...it will feel bad.

Usually they will tell you what's going on and at that point, you help them get back on track, adjusting their miles accordingly. Do this quietly but deliberately. Don't impart punishment by not allowing them to run...they want to please you and themselves by showing you that they CAN do it right. Let them prove themselves to you.

Maintain and preserve your student's dignity, but don't let him/her "get away with" continuing the behavior. Kids know when you care and they really do love being held to a high standard. Same with 100 Mile Club. Some kids just have to test the waters. Hold fast to your standard, all the while providing the love and support necessary for a child to feel true personal success. They'll figure it out...

...and so will you. The fact that you are allowing your students to experience this journey means that you "get it". Trust yourself, refer to your PYRAMID OF SUCCESS when you get confused about what to do. It works every time.

Accommodating and Modifying for ALL

When I created The 100 Mile Club, I asked myself:

What would be a perfect balance between challenging and attainable?

For MOST kids, 100 miles works perfectly. Three miles a week. Not too easy, not too hard. For some, however, there needs to be some adjustment. And that's ok.

Sometimes, the balance between challenging and attainable must be adjusted to help some participants achieve TRUE personal success.

Pre-school, kindergarten. Besides being so tiny and cute, most of our preschoolers and kindergarteners are on 1/2 day at school, and for this reason, we have used "mini miles" at many of our schools . Mini Miles are simply 1/2 mile =1 mile. When these little ones run, we still call their "miles" miles...we just calculate them differently. No big deal.

Last year at one school, we looked at the statistics of the kindergarten classes who did mini-miles and compared them with our regular 1 Mile=1 Mile classes. Our mini-mile kindergarteners earned their incentives at just about the same time as our other classes. It WORKED! So...try mini miles for the little ones. The statistics match, and the little ones find it much more attainable, yet appropriately challenging. We found a balance! YAY!

Individuals with Disabilities. There are as many modifications as there are disabilities, and every single individual is different. Use your best judgement or talk to your adaptive p.e. coach about appropriate challenges for your student/s.
For most, again, walking a mile is perfect...but if you need to, simply figure out what your student can do "3" of each week. That can be their "mile".

We have had students with specific physical disabilities do swimming, walking a specified distance using their walker, rolling in their wheelchair, and even physically rolling across a mat as miles. Nothing is off limits, as long as you allow all individuals to do their best at whatever activities are appropriate for them.

You can start with this document: 100 Mile Club Mile Equivalents. It will help you make some decisions about appropriate mile-equivalents for your students with disabilities.
If you need to, just call. We can help you figure out something really good for every child. I have never had a child unable to participate...ever. We can always make 100 Mile Club work for everyone. 100 Mile Club's beauty is its flexibility. :)

Remember, YOU know your students best. Help each of them to do what they can do and you and ALL of your students will undoubtedly reap the rewards of 100 Mile Club participation.
The 100 Mile Club has the potential to be life-changing for many of our students.

• 
  Many students have never completed an activity that takes such long-term planning and goal-setting.


• 
  Many students discover hidden athletic talents and go on to participate in sports and activities in high school and beyond.


• 
  Others simply learn a little bit more about themselves through this journey to 100 miles and apply this new knowledge to their educations, their overall wellness, and their relationships with others.

The 100 Mile Club really is all about Accepting the Challenge and experiencing the journey to success with others, and I am incredibly excited for anyone who takes that on, in whatever form it happens to be...

Our Local Fight: Our First HELPING FEET Event

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

- Helen Keller

Hot.

It was going to be one of those days you wish you could spend either tightly sealed inside an air-conditioned house, or floating on some cool body of water somewhere. Instead, thousands of participants chose to brave the extreme heat and walk in support of their mothers, grandmothers, aunties, sisters, and friends...Our Local Fight against breast cancer, The Foundation for Community and Family Health's annual walk, was a huge success!!

Our 100 Mile Club kids showed up in droves to lend their Helping Feet to a great cause. Over 100 kids came out and walked or ran either 2.2 or 4.4 miles on one of the hottest days of the year. Not one complaint. Not one.

My mom and I arrived at Dos Lagos just before 6:00 in the morning to set up our booth. After a few minutes of confusion and a good cry, we settled in. This is always an emotional day for everyone, and I usually spend the whole walk on the verge of tears. That, on top of the fact that I was running on 4 hours of sleep made for quick-to-arrive emotions all day.

Our booth was situated right at the finish line, which was perfect...we were able to get mile credit slips to most of our kids. I am sure there were still quite a few who didn't ever find us, so we'll field frantic phone calls this week. If there is one thing I know for sure, it is that kids are SERIOUS about their miles. They should be. They. Want. Credit. Thankfully, we had plenty of volunteers:

• BJ Walker, thank you for being there all day! You even helped clean up!
• Alice Fujita, you took the best pictures ever, and passed out billions of credit slips. Thank you!
• Ellie & Mark VanDoornum, thanks for walking and representing. We needed you out there.
• Michaela Hamilton, you rallied your school. You guys had the MOST walkers ever! You win!!
• Tom Munoz, thank you for jumping right in.
• Mom, THANK YOU for helping me set AND clean up...you are Superwoman.
• All Head Coaches, thank you for coming out and encouraging your students to give back. That's what it's all about.

Do you see the grey Accept the Challenge tee? :)

We had 100 Mile Club Kids from so many schools!! The following schools and groups were represented at Our Local Fight...GREAT job to these schools and coaches:

CFIS

Prado View

Adams

El Cerrito

Orange*

McKinley*

Garretson*

Riverside Christian

Raney

Temescal Valley

Eisenhower*

Todd

Peppermint Ridge

Rosa Parks

Sierra Vista

Barton

Norco High

Vicentia

Corona Ranch

Washington

California School for the Deaf, Riverside

* exemplary participation!!

Then just like that, Our Local Fight was done for another year...great job to all of our kids and families! Together, our kids raised over $1,400 for The Foundation.

We are doing something great for our children. If we can guide this young generation to seek health and learn to give back to their communities, we have done something monumental.

Thank you for helping guide our children toward health, wellness, and community spirit.

In every community there is work to be done. In every nation there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it.
~Marianne Williamson

Welcome to The Movement!

Cardiovascular Benefits Of Daily Exercise In School Children Are Evident Even After One Year
ScienceDaily (2009-05-10) -- School children as young as 11 can benefit from a daily exercise program in reducing their levels of several known risk factors for cardiovascular disease. An ongoing study, which began four years ago in the German city of Leipzig, shows already that children assigned to daily exercise lessons reduced their overall prevalence of obesity, improved their exercise capacity, increased their levels of HDL-cholesterol, and reduced their systolic blood pressure. ... read full article

As our summer begins, many of our schools are already off and running on Monday. Our year-round schools have my utmost respect. These teachers and administrators ended their 2008-09 school year on June 26th and in one week, completely reset and restart their new year! Talk about a whirlwind!

The article above shows us how in just one year, our children can improve their overall health. We knew this already, though. Our 100 Mile Club Kids are happy, healthy, focused, and fit! Let's keep moving!

If you are just getting started, or thinking of joining The 100 Mile Club "movement", check us out at www.100mileclub.com. We are here and ready for you.

The 100 Mile Club® is simple to set up and begin. You should be ready to “hit the ground running” the first day of school, or as soon as possible once school begins. Here are some guidelines to get you going. The following ideas, concepts, and procedures are extremely helpful and will make 100 Mile Club® run smoothly and positively.

Are you wondering how we think, and what we're about? Read on...

First... Accept the Challenge. There is a philosophical mindset that must be adopted and understood before beginning The 100 Mile Club®. For some, this is the hardest part.

Our philosophy is simple. We believe that every single student has the ability to achieve true personal success and a new level of physical fitness by Accepting the Challenge of running (or walking) 100 Miles at school during a single school year. These feelings of true personal success and fitness are ones that will carry a student to new levels of achievement in all areas: academics, athletics, and implementation of the valuable life skills identified in the bricks of Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.

The 100 Mile Club® is a personal journey toward a very personal goal.

It is not a race with anyone but yourself.

We NEVER compare students. ever.

We never race or compete between classes or students to see who makes 100 miles “first”.
100 Mile Club® is not an external competition. The competition is with your biggest rival: yourself.

We celebrate all personal successes at the end of the school year. 100 miles or not, we award students together, celebrate together, and never separate out those that make 100 miles from those that do not.

The personal successes students feel while on the100 Mile Club® journey are unquantifiable but ever-present. We celebrate those most of all.

100 Mile Club® encourages team spirit by asking students to work together to help one another reach their goals. Often, we see the more athletic students encouraging and mentoring those that might need that little extra boost…it is wonderful to see students cheer for each other or run together to just make it one more lap.

100 Mile Club® does not publicly (e.g.-website, school announcements, etc…) identify or announce students who hit 100 miles until the end of the year awards presentation. Some students make 100 miles by mid-January…Each site has fun ways of celebrating their participants' personal successes and lets 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 students reach inside themselves and set new personal goals in order to reach their true level of competitive greatness.

The 100 Mile Club® is an individualized physical fitness program. Students will have the opportunity to exercise their bodies through stretching and running (or walking) activities as they move closer and closer to 100 miles and their very own gold medal. Please strike a careful balance between encouraging students to do THEIR best, honoring individual differences, and challenging students to reach to a new level of greatness.

The 100 Mile Club® is a life skills program. Through the personal experience of running (or walking) 100 miles at school, each student is given unique situations in which to truly experience each and every one of the life skills outlined in The Pyramid of Success.

Make sure you know your students. Some may have medical conditions of which you may not be aware, some may need to see their doctor before beginning a program such as this.

The 100 Mile Club® is uncomplicated, yet profound. We believe strongly that each and every student who Accepts the Challenge of running (or walking) 100 miles at school during a single school year will discover a phenomenal new part of themselves…the part that thrives on team spirit, hard work, determination and enthusiasm.

Once a child gets a taste of the deep and powerful intrinsic rewards of true, TRUE personal success, he or she will seek that feeling again and again…at school, at home, and in life. It's amazing.

Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground.

It makes it feel needed. ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts

PENNY VOTE RESULTS

Just five minutes a day of sustained physical activity each day can prevent obesity in kids.

So, what's our new tee shirt color?? Remember, every year ALL 100 Mile Club schools and groups have the same color shirt. We do this for very specific reasons...

READ ABOUT IT HERE.

What started as a simple way to cast a few votes and have a little fun picking our next tee shirt color quickly evolved into a massive Penny Vote Tour. As with most things 100 Mile Club-related, what started as a fun and silly idea, backed up with with lots of passion and energy ended up HUGE and taking over everything!! This was true once again with The Penny Vote.

Jared Walker, a former 100 Mile Club participant and very busy IB student at a local middle school, volunteered to lead the charge. It was a great service project for him! Jared set up a booth at Walk for Kids 2009 and collected pennies in these cool vortex-topped water bottles:

The vortexes were all Jared's idea, and were soooooo cool!!

Color choices for 09-10 were as follows:

• Steel gray with white.


• True Red with navy.


• Forest Green with cream.

The kids (and adults!) had a ball watching the pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters, and even dollars go round and round and plop in to the color of their choice. klink! klink! klinklink! The coins kept coming!

So much was being collected that we decided to donate it to a local charity...The Circle of Hope Family Shelter was chosen to receive 100% of the proceeds from 100 Mile Club's 2009-10 Penny Vote. I don't even know if they know that yet. Do they know? I guess at the very least they will be pleasantly surprised. :)

These funny-looking (but fun!) containers travelled all over Southern California, and kids, parents, and friends all cast their votes with spare change. All the while, our collection boxes were getting heavier and heavier. Yay!!

The Vote ended on Friday, June 12. Our intention was to hand count the coins...the reality is that we ended up a the local market, standing in front of the Coinstar for a reaaaalllly long time. We had to pay a little percentage. OK. A big percentage. But we got it done.

Are you ready?? After all was said and done, the results are:

• Steel Gray with White: $51.70


• Green with Cream: $67.12


• Red with Navy: $110.65

TOTAL COLLECTED: $229.47 WOW! (This was mostly pennies, by the way.)

So, our new 100 Mile Club® tee shirt color for 2009-10 is:

RED WITH NAVY!

And the best part is that we got to cast our votes while giving back to our community...Thank you to everyone who voted this year! This just goes to show you that if everyone gives just a little, we can make a BIG difference.

Great job, everyone. I think next year this will be even bigger! We will involve more schools and have an online donation platform, as well!

IT'S ALMOST TOO SIMPLE: Fit Kids Do Better in School

Fit Kids Get Better Grades

By Michael O'Shea

Publication Date: 01/11/2009 PARADE MAGAZINE

As childhood obesity rates soar and kids spend more time sitting in front of their computers than playing outdoors, diabetes and other weight-related illnesses are on the rise. But physical health isn’t the only thing at stake. According to a study by the California Department of Education, kids’ fitness levels also may affect their performance in school. The study found that increased amounts of physical fitness translated into higher academic achievement at each of the three grade levels measured. The benefits were most evident in math scores. And girls, particularly those at higher fitness levels, demonstrated greater achievement than boys. Another study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also found that increased physical activity had a positive effect on academic performance. Previous research has led doctors to surmise that exercise may encourage new brain-cell growth. A workout for your body also is a workout for your mind. Help kids get in shape, and they may bring home higher test scores and better grades.

The Research Is In! Fit Kids Perform Better

This 100 Mile Club student has a personal goal of running 100 miles each trimester.

Here he is with his first 100 miles and a BIG smile! So far, he's right on track!

Life is wild! I have so many blog posts in the hopper, but for now, I simply want to link you to two fabulous studies we found. Both were published in 2009 and tout daily physical activity in school. YAY!

What a month!

Take a look at this!

Physical Activity May Strengthen Children's Ability To Pay Attention
ScienceDaily (2009-04-01) -- Physical activity may increase students' cognitive control -- or ability to pay attention -- and also result in better performance on academic achievement tests, according to research led by a kinesiology and community health expert. ... > read full article

Physically Fit Kids Do Better In School

ScienceDaily (2009-01-30) -- A new study found that physically fit kids scored better on standardized math and English tests than their less fit peers. ... > read full article

What we'll do is link you to an article here and there before my blog posts. Keeping up on research and having fun!! That's what it's all about!

Local Tracks: Dedicated to Coach O'Neil :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May 2009 bring you health, happiness, and miles!

Many of our 100 Mile Club® schools have asked about the different types of tracks I've seen while I'm out and about.

Then, I promised Coach O'Neil (Hi Monica...sorry it took me so long) a very long time ago that I would take pictures of some of the paths and tracks we have around the Corona-Norco area. I am sure that there are others out there, but I took pictures of a few that were designed differently from one another.

At first, I was just going to email the pictures to a few coaches, but I thought others might be interested, too. Sooooo, here they are. Welcome to Track Tour '09!!

The first one is at McKinley Elementary. This track is really low profile, but stays dry almost year-round. With the exception of a few puddles that disappear within hours (without any squishy mud left over), this track serves us perfectly. It is in use almost every hour of the day.

The entrance to the McKinley track.

Notice that this track is only 3-sided. The kids run on the blacktop and hop back on the track when they enter the grass area. It works for us.

Coming around the South end of McKinley's track.

This side stays shaded most of the day...it's right up against the fence so they only had to "do" one side on this part.

A close-up of the border and footing.

The bordering of this track is simply some sort of treated wood. The footing is decomposed granite. They dug downabout 4 or so inches all around and a load of DG was put in and rolled down. After the first rain and a few months more DG was added.

Next, Lee V. Pollard High School has a marvelous walking path. It meanders around and is landscaped so beautifully that it almost beckons you to get out and move! Like a little oasis at school. Look closely and you can see lights framing the entire path...

There are little outlet spots all around the path. I imagine people taking little chat breaks in there, maybe a picnic bench nestled in for lunch or break time, or maybe just stopping to tie shoes (goodness knows wee need shoe-tying spots!). They're like those pull out places when you drive up a mountain and you want to let people pass you. :)

Their border is some sort of aluminum...very thin but quite effective, and the path is filled with decomposed granite.

Finally, the site of our 2009 WALK FOR KIDS, Cesar Chavez Elementary School. We are all envious of this track!

It's a perfect 1/5 mile loop, about twice as wide as our other 2 paths, and is perfecctly flat. Spectacular!!

Their border is concrete on both edges and the track is, again, filled with decomposed granite.

Here is Chavez's track all decked out with 2008 Walk for Kids participants! This picture also helps to show how wide this track is...wow, huh?

Hopefully these tracks and paths will get your minds moving. If you have any good track/path pictures, send them over and we'll post them here, too.

No matter where you are, where you walk, or how you get those miles in, the important thing is to keep moving, do your best, and keep your goals in mind always.

As always, thank you for Accepting the Challenge, and we'll see you at Walk for Kids 2009 on March 14th!