By GARY DEMUTH

Salina Journal

Lindsey Wood is looking forward to finishing a 26.2-mile marathon.

It's just taken the fifth-grader six weeks to do it.

Wood, 10, and about 375 other students from Meadowlark Ridge Elementary School, 2200 Glen, are participating in the Meadowlark Marathon, now in its fifth year.

Each morning at 7:55, the students gather at the west side of the school and walk, run, skip or tromp twice around the perimeter of the school property. They often are accompanied on their trek by their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and grandparents.

Two trips around equals a mile.

"I've done it all five years, since first grade," Lindsey said. "It wakes you up when you come to school and you feel healthier in the morning."

Lindsey's friend Korri Simmons said all the students look forward to the marathon from the first day of school.

"You can walk or run, and you get to talk to friends when you go around," said Korri, 11, a fifth-grader.

The Meadowlark Marathon was the brainchild of Salinan Dana Kossow, whose daughter Sydney is a fifth-grader at the school. A veteran marathon runner, Kossow envisioned a program that would teach kids about the benefits of exercise while providing them a fun, safe way to complete a marathon one step -- or mile -- at a time.

"They do a mile a day, four days a week, and then one mile in P.E.," she said. "Wednesdays we take off for make-up day, in case someone misses a day."

In about six weeks, participants will have walked or run the equivalent of 26.2 miles.

"It doesn't take much to walk two miles," she said. "The kids can talk to their friends, and it gets them started for the day."

During marathon weeks, the students become eligible for prizes that might include T-shirts, water bottles and medals, Kossow said.

This year's marathon will be completed Wednesday when the students complete 26.2 miles and cross "the finish line" while being cheered on by parents, relatives and other students.

"We close the street (Glen), and parents will line the street," Kossow said. "The students run the last mile and cross the finish line. Then we have an assembly where everyone gets a medal and a T-Shirt, and we have a slide show of the year's marathon."

Sydney Kossow said the last mile is the "funnest part."

"That's when we all try to race each other to the end," she said.

According to fifth-grader Trey Cullins, 10, it's no sweat walking 26 miles, especially if you get six weeks to do it.

"It only takes 15 or 30 minutes if you walk or run, and then you go to school," he said.

Meadowlark's marathon success has begun to be adopted by other schools. A marathon began this fall at St. Mary's Grade School, 304 E. Cloud. About 150 St. Mary's students have run each morning along the track at Kansas Wesleyan University's Glen Martin Stadium, accompanied by assorted parents, siblings and friends.

"It's been very successful for us, and the kids have been faithful about doing this," said Nick Compagnone, superintendent of the Salina Catholic Diocese. "Teachers have remarked that kids come to class afterward more refreshed and ready to get the school day going."

Kossow said she'd love it if every school in Salina adopted the marathon program.

"It's amazing to watch the spirit of our school grow since we started this," she said. "It's brought the whole school closer."

When Kossow began the program in 2003, around 300 students participated in the marathon. This year, 375 are participating out of a school enrollment of 425.

Barb Gutsch, who has a daughter in the third grade, has walked in the marathon for four years. She said it not only gives her more time each morning with her daughter, it's also an opportunity to make friends with parents of other Meadowlark students.

"Instead of just dropping off your kids at school, you can walk with them and meet other parents," she said.

Tom Leyh uses the marathon to multitask with his son Jacob, a 10-year-old fourth-grader at the school. While they walk, Leyh reads homework questions to Jacob.

"It takes him awhile to get charged up, and me, too," said Leyh, who works at Philips Lighting in Salina. "This gives us a chance to do something together, something healthy."

Kossow said this will be the last year she will head the Meadowlark Marathon. Next year, Sydney will attend Lakewood Middle School, and another Meadowlark mother has volunteered to take charge of the marathon.

"None of this could have ever happened without our volunteer parents," Kossow said. "Because of them, this has grown steadily every year."

Meadowlark parents Becky Kellogg and Beth Eisenbraun said they have enjoyed walking the daily mile. Eisenbraun, who has a child in kindergarten, is participating for the first time. Kellogg has a child in third grade and a 4-year-old in preschool who likes to run with the other kids.

During the marathon season, Kellogg said, it's no problem motivating her children to get up and come to school.

"They're in the car waiting for me," she said. "They want to be here to run with their friends."

Eisenbraun's child is enrolled in the afternoon kindergarten class, but that doesn't stop them from getting up early each morning to do the marathon.

"It's great for all the kids here because they're able to get some of their social wiggles out of the way so they can concentrate in class," she said.

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

Join the Discussion:

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Wanting to move says....
I don't like this school or the people up here.
10/14/2008

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Mother or two at Meadowlark says....
If only more people would open their eyes. These people up here think this school is so the best. I will be the first if not the only one to say, someone needs to get off their butts and start looking at the people in charge of this school. My child and many others have had so many problems with nothing being done about it, and why. It's all about who you are and who's butt you kiss up here. Guess I'm not a butt kisser. If I could move my child to another school it would have already been done, although I was told no!!
10/14/2008

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Tom Pilcher says....
What happened to the other grade schools in town? Oh, wait, they dont have the right kids attending.....
10/13/2008

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