This morning, I participated in the Columbine Elementary School Mile Marathon with my Boulder Racing teammate Jet Swayze.
This race started at the school back in 1978 when a couple of teachers asked a local running coach to help the school celebrate the end of the school year. It's now Boulder’s longest running race, one year older than the legendary Bolder Boulder 10K.
I had a very fun talk with 4th grade class. I taught them about the different distances of triathlon, the importance of proper nutrition to perform at your best, doing some form of exercise every day to build strong muscles and bones, having a group of people around you to support and encourage you and most importantly, believing in yourself even if you’re scared or doubt you have the capability to do something. (Yeah, we covered quite a bit in 20 minutes.)
Some of the kids even had pretty insightful questions for 9 and 10 year olds.
“What stretches do you do before you run?”
“What do you eat before a race?”
“How many hours do you exercise a week?”
“Do you ever get nervous before a race?”
My favorite was a little girl who told us what ingredients her dad puts in his morning smoothie before he goes on a run.
I got so excited at how interested the kids were in learning about nutrition and exercise and it was genuinely awesome to see kids get so excited about going for a run.
After the talk, the whole school went out for a one mile fun run, and the kids crushed it
This is a great model for other schools to model off of, and was another reminder of how important it is that students be given all the opportunities to succeed, regardless of income level or socioeconomic status. A 2017 study found that schools that offered healthy food options lead to academic improvements in students.
As I’m building this business, I’ll be donating a percentage of my income to organizations that are dedicated to early childhood education, along with organizations supporting environmentalism, conservation and sustainability. If you’re involved in or know of an organization that is dedicated to providing healthy food options for students, please contact me to see how we can work together.