In the age of endless screen time, kids across the country are failing to meet the one hour of exercise recommended for their physical and mental health. Marathon Kids, a nonprofit started in Austin, aims to end this trend by teaching children how fulfilling running can be and how exciting it is to set and exceed goals through hard work and persistence.
Marathon Kids and Austin Runners Club are hosting the family-friendly Zilker Park Relay on Sept. 6, sponsored by Tacodeli and Turner Construction. The event will include 200- and 400-meter kid dashes, an adult relay race, costume competitions, a post-race DJ party and a biergarten sponsored by Titos for those 21 and up. Children who participate will also score a free meal from Taco Deli. Registration is still open, and all proceeds will support Marathon Kids.
“This event is cool in the sense that it has this wacky, pop-up, kind-of-underground feel to it. There’s really nothing else like it,” said Jasmine Adgerson, Marathon Kids’ community engagement manager. “It’s overall just a really fun time.”
The nonprofit is made up of determined volunteers — often coaches, teachers or parents — and dedicated students who use the Marathon Kids app to log each lap run. Each child can set their own daily goal, a system that teaches them to develop healthy habits and, most importantly, stick to them.
“When you encourage kids to do this from an early age, they can take these habits on to their adult lifestyles,” Adgerson said.
By the end of each semester, most participants have logged three or four marathons worth of laps. Last year, participants in the Austin area ran a total of 18,310 marathons all together, totaling nearly 480,000 miles.
“It shows that kids can do so much more than we give them credit for,” Adgerson said.
“It shows that kids can do so much more than we give them credit for.”