Springs middle school eager to take on 5K on St. Patrick's Day
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- Created on Friday, 11 March 2011 16:40
- Written by Nathan
By Elise Reuter, OutThereColorado.com
School spirit will be on full display Saturday morning when a field of runners lines up downtown for the annual 5K on St. Patrick’s Day.
Among the large group of participants will be 43 staff members and students from Galileo Middle School.
Korina Lyons, the physical education teacher at Galileo, coordinated the effort by issuing a challenge to the students — simply to have more kids than faculty take part in the race. The students won as 23 signed up for the 5K.
Photo gallery from Galileo Middle School
“This is the big race in town,” Lyons said of the first race in the Grand Prix of Running Series. “It gets everyone excited for fitness, running and health along with summer.”
Students and staff have trained hard for the 5K, and teachers have noticed an increase in activity from many in the school.
“Some of them are running outside of school,” Lyons said. “You’ll hear them saying, ‘I ran four times around my block last night’ or ‘My dad and I went to the Y.’
“They are trying to get out and do something. I think this will be sort of a wake-up call for them because they’ll start to do more of it now.”
The faculty members — many of whom are involved with activities such as swimming, cycling and climbing fourteeners — have picked up the pace as well by incorporating runs outside and on the treadmill into their usual routines.
“We are supporting each other all the time,” said principal Robyn Colbert, who plans to run Saturday. “Most of the staff are fit and outdoorsy.”
This is the second straight year that Galileo staff members have run the 5K. But thanks to grant money from “Healthy Schools,” this time they’ll be joined on the course by their students.
Free entries, free T-shirts, a post-race parade and a little competition are ideal ingredients for a fun field trip.
“It burns off stress, it helps with the endorphins, it puts them in a better mood, it gives them an opportunity to have movement, and they have fun,” sixth-grade science teacher Jeff Marshall said. “You explain to them that you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete; you can just do it at your level, take people that you want to go with and just have fun.”
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