Ready Set Run during Covid-19.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, obesity still remains at about 17% among our nation’s young people ranging in ages 2-19 years even though the rate of obesity in 2-5-year-olds has been on a downward slope.  

Because of local support and interest in this program, the Hickman County 4-H and FCS Agents teamed up to continue our fifth year of Ready Set Run Club despite the challenges due to COVID-19.  Ready Set Run is more than just running, it’s a character-building program that targets youth ages 8-13, or (3^rd-8^th grades) to participate in a 5K run.  The club met twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, after school for a duration of 13 weeks.  This program would usually be an 18 or 19-week program, however, because of Covid-19 and socially distancing guidelines, we were not able to start this program until March.  During this time youth are being equipped with physical training and goal-setting mentality to accomplish their personal running goals.  Issues such as growing confidence and self-esteem, respecting authority, and dealing with peer pressure are just a few topics covered. Proper nutrition is also covered to help kids understand that all aspects combined can create a healthier person.

With our 19 youth, we had 8 consistent teen leaders and four parents attending each time to help with our youth “runners” as they all run at different paces.  

Students walked/ran a total of 620 miles.  Participants overall increased their timed run/walk pace by an average of 2.5 minutes for a timed mile.  

Parents responded with comments after the program:

“My daughter is usually not physically active but because of the run club, she likes to do more things outside.”

“My child loved the run club.  It seems as if he is more motivated to exercise.  

“In the beginning, he didn’t want to do it.  After the last week or two, he really enjoyed running and started looking forward to it. He has now set a daily goal that he created himself on how many steps he wants to set in a day.  Definitely, a positive experience, thank you.”

Because of the success of this program, we look to continue Ready, Set Run each year.