Crestwood kids prepare for
Fitness Weekend April 5-6

Crestwood Elementary kids last month stepped up their preparation for the conclusion of their Read, Right & Run program that started last October.

The GO! St. Louis Family Fitness Weekend involves a number of running events at Forest Park Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6. Included is the 26.2-mile St. Louis Marathon, a half-marathon and other running activities for young and old.

For kids at Crestwood and other students at dozens of metro-area schools, the family event is the climax of their 26-week Read, Right and Run program during the 2007-08 school year.

Since last October, kids have been running either one or two miles a week, doing a good deed and reading a book each week. Elementary kids run one mile while middle school kids run two miles a week.

After 25 weeks, the elementary kids have 1.2 miles left to meet the marathon distance. Middle schoolers run three miles more to finish the "double marathon" goal.

(You can learn more about the Family Fitness Weekend by going to www.gostlouis.org. You don't have to be in the RRR program to participate in many of the events.)

Teacher Amy Emmenger is leading the Crestwood school's RRR program. During the day, she's a reading specialist but after school she helps the RRR kids.

She got interested in RRR two years ago when she finished a half-marathon (or 13-miles) during the 2006 Family Fitness Weekend.

After that, she asked kids if they'd like to do the whole 26-week program and finish up in the 2007 weekend. About a dozen kids signed up but their Fitness Weekend appearance didn't go so well.

Mason White

Ms. Emmenger said, "That weekend, the event was cancelled when rain poured down. But, we scheduled an after school event of our own so our kids could finish.

"We invited the parents and everyone had a great time, although it rained that day also."

Eight-year-old Mason White was one of the kids who signed up again this year. He wasn't discouraged by last year's wet ending.

For sisters Emileigh and Hanna Groh, this is their first year of participation.

Emileigh Groh

For the Crestwood kids, most of their running, reading and good deeds are done on their own. Then, the kids have their parents attest to their activities by initialing a logbook they keep.

But, during March, Ms. Emmenger held extra group "conditioning runs" to get them better prepared for the final weekend event.

Second-grader Mason said he does a lot of his running at the Kirkwood YMCA. His good deeds included such things as shoveling snow off sidewalks and drives and cleaning snow off cars in the neighborhood.

Hannah Groh

He said he also schedules 75 minutes of reading at home each day. He said the most interesting book he's read so far was "Big, Bad Pig and the Three Little Wolves."

That's a reverse plot to the "Three Little Pigs" tale. In the new book, the pig is the enemy, bothering the wolves when they build their home.

Mason said, "In the end, when the wolves build a flower house, the pig doesn't tear it down because he likes the smell. The pig and wolves become friends."

Ten-year-old Emileigh said she gets in much of her running by refereeing sporting events for kindergarteners and first-graders at Truman Elementary School.

"I do extra running if refereeing isn't enough to meet my RRR goal," she said.

One good deed done by Emileigh and 8-year-old Hannah was to take younger kids around the neighborhood for "trick or treat" at Halloween.

Hannah also helped clean up the Crestwood school's "butterfly garden" after a storm filled it with litter.

Emileigh's favorite book was "Double Indemnity," a book on the Mark Twain recommended reading list.

Sam S.

Hannah said her favorite book was "Fire Star," a book about dragons. Hannah said much of her running is done on Mondays and Wednesdays when she takes her gymnastics classes.

Ten-year-old Sam S. is in his second year of RRR. The 4th grader said he doesn't have much trouble meeting the running requirement. "I run just about everywhere I go," he said.

He said his best reading has been two books about the son of Poseidon, mythical god of the sea. The son fights his father's enemies in both "Sea of Monsters" and "The Lightning."

He said most of his good deeds involved playing with his young sister.