As well as getting myself prepared for the Ottawa Marathon I’m also coaching over 100 elementary school children in their own running journey……the Ottawa Kids Marathon. This event, which is run on the Sunday morning of race weekend an hour after the start of the marathon, sees the school kids put in 41 ( or more) kilometres of training prior to race day. The training can take the form of running or any other physical activity like biking, swimming, soccer etc where 1/2 hour of physical activity will equal a kilometre. We’ve been doing a lot of our training at school with the kids running a kilometre at a time during the lunch recess.
On race day the kids run the final 1.2 kilometres to make a total marathon distance of 42.2 kilometres. The kids get to cross the same finish line downtown that the adult runners do and they receive a smaller version of the adult marathon medal! Great incentive for the young runners! Last year my elementary school had over 100 students cross the finish line and we are on track to do the same thing for this year’s race.
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