Last spring, the Parent Teacher Association at Germantown Elementary raised money to buy healthful snacks and medals for the runners. This fall, Bistrack got a $5,000 grant from the Rathmann Family Foundation for the expansion of the program. The Arnold-based organization donates money to education, the arts, children and youth health organizations, and environmental preservation.
The money was used to buy T-shirts, running shoes for children who needed them, and snacks to eat after the runs. Bistrack enlisted the help of volunteers from the Annapolis Striders, the Annapolis Athletic Club, the Annapolis Triathlon Club and the Pediatric Group at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
Volunteers supervised practice runs twice a week and taught the children how to stretch before exercising. They also worked on building up strength in core muscle groups, Bistrack said. The Pediatric Group taught the children about how their heart functions during exercise and how to keep it healthy.
Anne Arundel Medical Center staff visited the schools to test the students' resting, training and recovery heart rates and their blood pressure. Four of the approximately 100 children participating had high blood pressure, said Ashley DeStefano, the health educator in the Community Health and Wellness Department at the medical center.
DeStefano said the medical center also asked students how often they watched TV or played video games and how often they exercised. Most of the students said they had more than two hours of "screen time" every day - exceeding the guideline recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the surgeon general.
According to results, 41 percent of the students said they exercised at least 60 minutes a day, five days a week, meeting the goal set by health officials. The rest of the students said they exercised 60 minutes a day from one to four days a week.
Bistrack, who wants to make Mighty Milers an annual program, said her goal was to associate exercise with fun. Each child who completed five miles during or after training exercises could earn a charm to put on a bracelet. Students turned in logs, signed by parents.
Because there is no track at Annapolis Elementary School, students ran on the streets of Annapolis, under the supervision of runners from the running clubs. Daniels said her son Grant loved running across the drawbridge from Annapolis to Eastport.
Daniels said she hopes her son continues to run on his own. Already he is fit enough to go along with his parents and enjoy weekend bike rides through Quiet Waters Park.
"It has just really enhanced his life," Daniels said.
HEALTHY KIDS
Parents can serve as role models for children by exercising and eating more healthfully. Here are some tips for a healthier household:
* Reduce "screen time" - playing video games or watching TV - to less than two hours a day.
* Encourage an hour of physical activity or play every day.
* Make sure your child eats a healthy breakfast.
* Buy more fruits, vegetables and healthy grains for your family to eat. Eliminate soft drinks at home.
* Make sure your child gets enough sleep at night. A recent study found that with each extra hour of sleep, the risk of a child's being overweight or obese dropped by 9 percent.
Source: Office of the Surgeon General, www.surgeongeneral.gov/obesityprevention
