Shaler Area Elementary School students preparing for the Pittsburgh Kids Marathon got some tips from members of the University of Pittsburgh track and field team.
The Pitt students and their coaches put on a Track 101 clinic April 15 around the elementary school’s track.
There were stations where kids could be coached and work on their stances, starts and acceleration. They also got to practice relay exchanges, make long jumps, run over banana hurdles and even try their hand at shot put.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see what they do every day and inspire them to continue with their running journey,” said Kelly Himes, a fourth grade teacher overseeing Shaler Area Elementary’s Kids of Steel program.
The elementary school is connected to the university and the track program through fourth grader Isaiah Johnson, 10, whose mother, Elisha Brewer, is the hurdles coach at Pitt.
“I hope that we inspire them to stay in the sport,” Brewer said. “Running and track is a great opportunity to stay in shape and make friends, and maybe it’s a future for some of these kids.
“This is where the love for the sport is developed, at this young age.”
About 120 Shaler Area students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades are participating in Kids of Steel this year. Many of them are expected to be among more than 11,000 children participating in the May 2 kids marathon, billed as the largest youth running event in the country.
Through Kids of Steel, kids run 25.2 miles training for race weekend, capped by the final 1-mile race for a full 26.2-mile marathon. The kids race starts near PNC Park, crosses the Andy Warhol Bridge and travels across Downtown on Wood Street to its end on the Boulevard of the Allies.
A finish line festival is held in Point State Park.
Alonzo Webb, director of track and field and cross country at Pitt, said the biggest thing he hoped the kids learned about was discipline — to listen, learn and be respectful.
“The athletic part is the least we wanted to get across,” he said.
Webb spoke to the students at the end of the afternoon.
“Every day you come to practice, you’re building your own house,” he told them. “I’m not talking about track and field. It’s about life. The decisions you make now will follow you all your life. Make good decisions all the time.”