Upper Dublin Healthy Kids Running Series

“I had enough,” I thought to myself as I sat in the living room while my kids watched TV. Over time, it became a default for my kids to watch TV or use their tablets in their free time. I wanted to find something new that my kids could try without committing to it long-term. This past spring, they participated in the Upper Dublin Healthy Kids Running Series for the first time and I wanted to share our experience. I saw the Upper Dublin HKRS as a great starting point, as this series is open to children regardless of prior experience or abilities, which was perfect because my children were not conditioned runners. . . at all.

Each child gets assigned to a different distance to run based on their age. Here is the breakdown:

2-3 year olds: 50 yard dash
4-5 year olds: 75 yard dash
K-1st grade: 1/4 mile
2nd- 3rd grade: 1/2 mile
4th-8th grade: 1 mile
High School: 2 miles

On the first day, we were welcomed, and received our HKRS t-shirts, and race bibs for the whole series that day. If you’re a hot mess mom like me, you may worry that you’ll lose the race bibs, but don’t worry, they had plenty of extra supplies, including markers and the safety pins to attach to their shirts! Day one was a struggle for my older children, as it was the first time they’d done longer distance running and wanted to quit before it was finished. I ran alongside them to encourage them to keep going, and to my amazement, another child finished the race and came back to cheer my daughter on! She, in turn, wanted to do the same for others and was motivated to continue in the series. Each week was hard, but they kept going because they were reminded that they’d already succeeded before!

Over the weeks, not only did my children grow, but also encouraged my husband and me to start training too! On the last day, our children were able to watch us do a mile run with other parents! The series ran for 4 consecutive weeks, with a fun celebration and award ceremony on the last day. All around, it was a great experience and a valuable life lesson to my children, that they are capable of doing hard things! And a huge shout out to the coordinator Nicole Willis and her team for all the hours put into organizing this event, and making this all possible for our children! THANK YOU!

Here are some details for the upcoming series, with some changes to note for those who have previously attended:

Non-Competitive Pre-K Dash Divisions

This year, there will be Non-Competitive Dash Divisions for kids aged 2-5 participating in the 50-yard and 75-yard dashes, allowing them to focus on having fun in their race and not on how they finish.

HKRS Marathon Award

The Marathon Award is for our runners (4th grade and up) who have completed 26 miles while running in the series. Starting in 4th grade, HKRS participants begin to run a mile-long race. Runners can add miles for every series that they run in and, once they reach 26 Miles, they will be awarded the following -

A special HKRS Marathon Award trophy with their name