Letters from the mailbox: OH NO!! They are finishing!!

Dear Kara,

I teach second grade and I want to know if there is anything special that I can do or give one of my students who reached his 100 miles at the end of 1st trimester. He is well on his way towards 150-200 miles for this year. Last year he reached 149 miles so I know that he is really pushing himself. Please let me know what I should and can do for him. ~ Ms. R, Teacher

Dear Ms. R, What a great accomplishment!! Your school rocks and so do you! You must be a fabulous coach to have him so motivated and wanting to reach new heights! You can do any or all of the following things to recognize your student and still keep with our mission and vision...

1. Send in a digital picture and a little story about him. We will feature him in our upcoming newsletter. We do that often. :)

2. Put a special mark on his tee. Make sure that you check the 100 box, but then do something special. (At McKinley, birthplace of 100 Mile Club®, we had TONS of kids hitting 100 early. We would glue a diamond on the back collar of the shirt, and if they hit 200, we'd put another one on, and so on, and so on...). You can get those at www.crystalz.com. The kids LOVE that!!

3. Announce his name at an upcoming assembly. It doesn't have to be anything huge...just a mention and a cheer.

4. Do a special cheer when kids hit 100 early. Some classes have a special cheer for kids that is only done when a student reaches his/her 25, 50, 75, 0r 100 mile goal.

Here are a few fun and silly chants: SUCCESS!

s-u-c-c-e-s-s
That's the way we spell success
We wish you luck and all the rest
With s-u-c-c-e-s-s!
GO (runner name)!!
CLAP & STOMP

Clap your hands (clap clap clap)
stomp your feet (stomp stomp stomp)
(runner's full name) can't be beat
Go (name) go (name)!!
Goooooooo (runner name)!!

Make a human tunnel for students to run through as they cross 100 miles. The kids in the photo below did this without prompting. They were so proud of their classmate that they made a tunnel for him. He came through the other end with tears of joy!

Make him a MENTOR, which is a huge honor. Assign him the job of helping other kids reach 100...all the while earning miles for himself. He is a ROCKSTAR!! Make sure that he knows that his medal is coming, BUT not to stop. That BIG mile number will make people gasp! at Medal Ceremonies at the end of the year. That will be the best award of all. Please call us if you want to discuss any or all of these, or if you have other ideas! We are all in this together.

Love,

Kara~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is a bit more with regard to reaching 100 miles early…

(It’s a good thing! Don’t worry.)

You need to know that... The 100 Mile Club® does not publicly identify or announce individuals who hit 100 miles until the end of the year awards presentation. Some individuals make 100 miles by mid-January…even earlier! 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 oviously ran their 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 or more! 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 set a new personal goal. Kids that hit 100 early are in need of a new goal. Help them set a reasonable one. Then, help them reach it.

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, running with and guiding their peers and friends, all the while earning more and more miles for themselves. It is a classic win-win situation.

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!

All individuals wait until the year-end medal ceremony to receive their certificates (and medals if they hit 100 miles).

All individuals receive certificates celebrating their miles run, but only those who hit 100 miles or more receive a medal.

Most of all...HAVE FUN!! 

Great Sign. Gone. :(

I am so sad.  On my way up Mt. Rubidoux, I always look for this sign.  It was in a backyard adjacent to the trail and I loved it. 

Maybe they are moving?  Maybe the economy got the best of them.  Maybe they got sick of it.  Either way, I miss this sign. 

:(

Lesson learned.

It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.

~John Steinbeck

It is amazing how a good night's sleep and a little determination can solve a problem.  There was something driving me crazy in my Quickbooks and I couldn't find how to fix it.  Honestly, I was feeling inadequate and downright dumb.  I was tired and had been working all day with Annie on a Fellowship proposal.  ::fingers crossed::

They all told me:

"Kara, leave it. Come back tomorrow with a fresh pair of eyes."

I listened, reluctantly as usual.  This morning, a Saturday no less, I came back in the office, disabled the alarm, sat down in a silent space and fixed it in about 4 and a half minutes. 

Lesson learned.

Random Fitness Facts for Fun!

These fun fitness facts remind me of this scene from Jerry Maguire. 

Try and read them without hearing this little voice inside your head!

  1.  You would need to drink a quart of milk every day for three to four months to drink as much blood as your heart pumps in one hour.

2.  Your heart is about the size of your fist and weighs about as much as a softball.

3. In the course of a lifetime, the resting heart will have pumped enough blood to fill 13 supertankers.

4. The pink under your fingernails is the blood in your capillaries.

5. Your heart is the strongest muscle of your body and beats about 100,000 times in one day, in an average adult.

6. We need light in order to see.  Animals that live in deep caves or in the great depths of the ocean where there is no light are often blind or have no eyes at all.

7.  A person breathes 7 quarts of air every minute.

8. Almost half the human body's weight is made from one of three types of muscle tissue.

9.  The human nervous system can relay messages to the brain at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour.  Your brain receives 100 million nerve messages each second from your senses.

10.  In one day, some 4000 children and teenagers take up smoking.

11.  Underwater swimming is the only time you should hold your breathe while exercising.

12.  Your brain weight about 3 pounds, is a pinkish gray color and is about the size of a cauliflower.

13. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

14.  The three bones of the middle ear are so small all three could easily fit on your thumbnail.

15. If all 600 muscles in your body pulled in one direction, you could lift 25 tons.

16.  If the 300,000,000 tiny air sacs (alveoli) in your lungs could be laid out flat, they would cover a home swimming pool.

17. Tongue prints are as unique as fingerprints.

18. If you weight 100 pounds on earth, you will weigh about 264 pounds on Jupiter.

19.  There are 206 bones in the human body.  One fourth of them are in your feet.

20.  The human body has 45 miles of nerves.

** Source:  http://lower.usm.k12.wi.us/special/phy_ed/3rd%20Grade%20Page/fun_fitness_facts.htm

San Manuel donates funds to Corona non-profit for childhood fitness program.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

                     

Contact:  Annie Bradberry                                                                                               

Director of Development                                                                                                                                  

The 100 Mile Club®                                                                                                                                

Phone: 951-340-2290                                                                                                                                   

annie@100mileclub.com

The 100 Mile Club®, a Corona-based non-profit organization focused on physical fitness and life skills for children, recently received a grant from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.  

The organization was among other local non-profits to receive grants from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians charitable giving program which supports organizations that provide services in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties with the focus to improve quality of life for adults, children and families. San Manuel has contributed more than $50 million to charities since 2001. Through partnerships with charitable organizations and community groups San Manuel honors the ancestral Serrano value of sharing resources with others. 

The San Manuel grant awarded to The 100 Mile Club® will fund 1,000

Inland Empire children this new school year.

Realizing physical activity provides significant benefits to the health status of our kids and our community, The 100 Mile Club® created a simple, innovative, sustainable answer to the current health crisis of inactivity in our youth. The program runs the length of the school year and has an incentive program that adds excitement while teaching children how to become responsible and accountable for their own success. 

“With San Manuel’s support we are winning the battle on childhood obesity and inactivity one child, one school, and one community at a time” said Kara Lubin, founder of the Corona-Norco based organization.

About the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians

The San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians is a federally recognized American Indian tribe located near the city of Highland, Calif. The Serrano Indians are the indigenous people of the San Bernardino highlands, passes, valleys and mountains who share a common language and culture. The San Manuel reservation was established in 1891 and recognized as a sovereign nation with the right of self-government. Since time immemorial, the San Manuel tribal community has endured change and hardship. Amidst these challenges the tribe continued to maintain its unique form of governance. Like other governments it seeks to provide a better quality of life for its citizens by building infrastructure, maintaining civil services and promoting social, economic and cultural development. Today San Manuel tribal government oversees many governmental units including the departments of fire, public safety, education and environment.

About The 100 Mile Club® 

Inspired by the 1992 Summer Olympics, special education teacher Kara Lubin used the universal dream of becoming a gold medalist to inspire her hard-to-motivate students. That year, The 100 Mile Club was born from a simple idea -- run 100 miles within the school year and earn a gold medal. The 100 Mile Club teaches children how to exercise safely, instill fun and healthy habits that will last a lifetime. Physical activity is important to children’s health and learning. For children, physical activity is linked to improved readiness to learn, better educational outcomes, and improved health.

###

For more information about The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, contact the Office of Public Affairs at 909-864-8933. To contact The 100 Mile Club® call 951-340-2290.

On the Right Path: Corona-Norco Makes Strides Toward Healthier School Lunches

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 represents a major step forward in our nation’s effort to provide all children with healthy food in schools. Increasingly schools are playing a central role in children’s health. Over 31 million children receive meals through the school lunch program and many children receive most, if not all, of their meals at school.

 

This month, guest blogger Betsy Adams, CNUSD Child Nutrition Coordinator shares the ongoing efforts of Corona-Norco Unified School District to provide healthier, more nutritious, and enjoyable school meals:

September, 2011. School meals provide students well-balanced, healthy meals that are required to meet science-based, federal nutrition standards.

We must not only provide our students with healthy food but with food they will enjoy.

With passage of the 2010 Healthy‐Hunger Free Kids Act, major changes have transformed school lunch guidelines to help combat the growing problem of childhood obesity. 

The new recipe for success to building a healthier plate:

• Eat the right amount of calories
• Vary your veggies
• Focus on fruit
• Make half of your grains whole
• Consume calcium rich foods
• Go lean with your protein
• Drink water

At the school lunch table this year, more variety of fruits and vegetables are being offered along with whole grains, low‐fat dairy products and meals with less fat, sugar and sodium.
 

Corona‐Norco’s cafeteria is serving fresh broccoli, zucchini, carrots, cucumber, spinach, cabbage and seasonal fruits. Baked Sweet potato Fries are being served and your student’s hamburger and chicken sandwich are on a whole wheat bun.

School lunches continue to provide 1/3 of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium and calories. These dietary guidelines are the best science‐based advice on how to eat for health. 

•  Menus have no more than 30 percent calories from fat and less that 10 percent from saturated fat.  

• Portion control is the standard followed, super-sizing is not an option.

School lunch customers are being served nutritious foods they like to eat which will help them grow, learn and succeed. 

We invite you to choose to eat a healthy plate with Child Nutrition Services in CNUSD. 

CNUSD Menu.  Through December 2011.

ABC's Eye on LA: Getting a jump on Michelle Obama's message is...

Jump to 2:57 if you are antsy!! 

Getting Started, CHAPTER Two

NOW WHAT??

Now that you understand our definition of success in 100 Mile Club®, what do you do? That’s easy!!

Make a commitment. This must come from you as the classroom teacher and/or 100 Mile Club® Site Head Coach. You are responsible for setting the standard for 100 Mile Club® procedures, motivating individuals with words of encouragement, sticking to the daily commitment, observing and providing positive feedback, and teaching proper 100 Mile Club® attitude. It’s not a competition; it’s a personal journey…and that concept needs to be reinforced daily for a while. After 100 Mile Club® is up and running, it almost takes care of itself. Participants and/or parents carry out the day to day procedures, and you simply provide feedback, guidance, encouragement, reinforcement, and enthusiasm.

Set the rules.  

1. Be safe. 
2. Be responsible. 
3. Be respectful. 
4. Be kind. 
5. Do your best.  

If you reinforce these concepts, not only will 100 Mile Club® function smoothly, but your class will gain tremendous amounts of self-respect and ownership not only of the Program, but of themselves, their peers, and their classroom as a whole. It’s quite powerful. 

 

Reinforce the idea that 100 Mile Club® is their program, not yours to enforce upon them…Do it right, do it well, and the rewards are endless for both you and the participants. (I know of dozens of parents who have requested specific classes/teachers simply because that class uses 100 Mile Club® as part of their p.e. curriculum.)

Measure your track/walking course. Don’t reinvent the wheel here. If you are a school, your site should have this information from having to run the mile for physical fitness testing. Check with your office or grade level team. If not, grab a pedometer or GPS and go for a walk around your designated running area. Once this is done, it’s done forever. 

You are responsible for setting the standard for 100 Mile Club®…

Do it right, do it well, and the rewards are endless for both you and your participants.

A Definition That Makes Success an Equal Opportunity Player

After taking a position teaching high school English at the age of 24, John Wooden soon grew frustrated with the grading system he was required to use and felt compelled to help his students better understand success as a result of personal effort. 

He thought of his father’s advice:

“Never try to be better than anyone else, but never stop trying to be the best you can be.” 

He remembered his high school math teacher, Mr. Scheidler, and his essay challenge to define success. 

Then Coach recalled a verse of poetry he had recently read: 

At God's footstool to confess,
A poor soul knelt and bowed his head.
“I failed,” he cried. The Master said,
“Thou didst thy best, that is success.”
 
A Definition Created

These influences helped Coach Wooden coin his definition of success in 1934:

"Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

A Pyramid Built

The definition satisfied Wooden for a short while, but he quickly realized it was insufficient. He needed something more concrete – more visual. So he spent the next 14 years identifying 25 behaviors he believed were necessary to achieve his idea of success. This search culminated in a simple but profound diagram Wooden called "The Pyramid of Success", which he completed in 1948.

Nearly six decades later these foundational behaviors have weathered the test of time - unchanged, full of wisdom, as rock-solid as the first day Coach established the cornerstones of Industriousness and Enthusiasm. 

Sources:  

The John R. Wooden Course® http://woodencourse.com 

The Official Site of Coach John Wooden http://www.coachwooden.com/

GETTING STARTED: Accept the Challenge

The 100 Mile Club® is simple to set up and begin. You should be ready to “hit the ground running” the first day of your new year, or as soon as possible once your year 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.

Accept the Challenge

There is a philosophical mindset that must be adopted and understood before beginning The 100 Mile Club®. 

Our philosophy is simple. We believe that every single individual 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 an individual 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 individuals.

·         We never race or compete between classes, departments, or individuals 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 year. Our year begins in July and end in June. 100 miles or not, we award individuals together, celebrate together, and never separate out those that make 100 miles from those that do not.

·         The personal successes individuals feel while on the 100 Mile Club® journey are unquantifiable but ever-present. We celebrate those most of all.

100 Mile Club® encourages team spirit by asking individuals to work together to help one another reach their goals. Often, we see the more athletic individuals Kara Lubin encouraging and mentoring those that might need that little extra boost…it is wonderful to see individuals 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 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.

The 100 Mile Club® is an individualized physical fitness program. Individuals 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 individuals to do THEIR best, honoring differences, and challenging individuals 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 person 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 participants. 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 a physical activity. We strongly recommend that one should always consult with a physician before beginning any exercise regimen.

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.