Wednesday, July 27, 2011

WELS Kids Marathon Update #3

Only 1 more month until the Final Mile of the WELS Kids Marathon. How many miles do you have done? How many books or hours do you have read? Are you already done and going for the Ultimate Challenge and on your second round? Wherever you are, you still have a month to go!

Reminder

This coming Saturday, July 30th, is the first Group Fun Run in Sussex. Everyone is welcome! Belinda will be hosting the event. The run will be started at Faith Lutheran Church and either run through Sussex Village Park or hit the Bugline Bike Trail for extra miles if you would like. Belinda has invited everyone to join the Faith Lutheran Saturday evening service beginning at 5:30PM or show up at 6:30PM for just the run. After the run, we will be heading nearby to Culver’s for some Ice Cream. No need to RSVP! Faith Lutheran Church is located at W244N6383 Weaver Dr. in Sussex. If you need directions from anywhere, please follow this link http://mapq.st/qi3wQl

There will also be Group Fun Runs on Friday, August 12th in Muskego at Bluhm Park starting at 6:30PM and another on Sunday, August 14th at the South Milwaukee High School starting at 6:00PM. Directions to come soon and will be posted on the website.

Website

Our website (http://kidsmarathon.blogspot.com/) has all the information you may need about the 2011 WELS Kids Marathon. Some sections you will find on the website include: Frequently asked questions, directions to the Final Event, course map, sponsor links, updates, etc. Please feel free to leave us a comment on the site as well.

Thank you,

Bill Schneider
WELS Kids Marathon Director

Thursday, July 21, 2011

WELS Kids Marathon Update #2

With a little over a month until the final Mile, you should all be well into your miles and your reading. I hope your log is filling up nicely. In this excessive heat outside, make sure you hydrate yourself well with lots of water. Please be safe out there and don’t overdo it.

We are busy planning the final event and gathering lots of prizes to give away when the run is complete. We are lining up a special guest and hope to make this final mile better than ever. I just ordered the shirts and the finisher’s medals. The medal is really cool this year and better than most of the medals I have from the numerous marathons I have run.

Marathon Fun Fact

Legend has it that in the year 490p BC, Pheidipiddes, a Greek soldier, ran from the town of Marathon to Athens, Greece, to announce the victory of the Greek Army. This distance was approximately 25 miles. Unfortunately Pheidipiddes died at the end of his run. In the year 1896, at the first modern Olympic Games, the Marathon was brought back. The distance was increased to 26 miles 385 yards in the year 1908 at the London Olympics when the Royal Family of England wanted the Marathon race to begin outside the balcony of Windsor Castle. And in 1924, the new distance of 26 miles 385 yards became the official length of the marathon.

Group Fun Runs

We have scheduled 3 fun runs for you to join us and have fun meeting new people and going on a run to log some more miles. Come to one or come to all of the scheduled events.

The first is scheduled on Saturday, July 30th in Sussex. Belinda has invited everyone out to Faith Lutheran Church for a 5:30PM service followed by a fun run along the Bug Line Trail or through Sussex Village Park. If you can’t make the service, join us at 6:30PM for the fun run. After the run, we will head to Culver’s close by for some ice cream. Faith Church is located right next to Sussex Village Park at W244N6383 Weaver Dr. in Sussex.

The second fun run is scheduled for Friday, August 12th in Muskego. The location is yet to be determined but the time should be at 6:30PM.

The final fun run will be held at the South Milwaukee High School Track on Sunday, August 14th at 6:00PM. Greg is planning some fun activities so plan on coming for fun and a run. South Milwaukee High School is located at 801 15th Ave. in South Milwaukee.

Name the Race

In an effort to attract more kids to join us in the fun over the summer, we have decided to rename the WELS Kids Marathon. But we want YOU to give us the name. Please email us with your suggestions. The rules are simple, please keep the suggestions to a relatively short name and it must include “Kids Marathon” in the name. The child who suggests the winning name will be given a free entry into all our future Kids Marathon until they are past 8th grade. If more than one child suggests the winning name, he/she will all be given a free entry into next year’s Kids Marathon. Please email us your suggestions at welskidsmarathon@yahoo.com. We have received a few suggestions already but would like a ton more. So put on your thinking caps and send in those suggestions.

Sponsors

We have been blessed with a lot of great sponsors who have helped up this year with either monetary donations or prize donations for the kids. If you know of or would like to be a sponsor, please email us. It could be just some prizes to be given out or a monetary donation. We will definitely let everyone know all about you and have you linked on our website. Here is a list of our sponsors already this year:

Thrivent Financial
Slingstone Products
Wisconsin Lutheran College
SkyHigh Marketing
Mike Evans Design
Performance Running Outfitters
Central Office Systems
Sitzberger Widmann & Company
Kwik Trip Stores
Food Ingerdients Inc.
The Athlete’s Foot New Berlin
Quality Resource Group
Dupont Cheese, Marion, WI
Century Springs Water
Milwaukee Bucks

Website

Our website (http://kidsmarathon.blogspot.com/) has all the information you may need about the 2011 WELS Kids Marathon. Some sections you will find on the website include: Frequently asked questions, directions to the Final Event, course map, sponsor links, updates, etc. Please feel free to leave us a comment on the site as well.

Volunteers

We will need a lot of volunteers for our final event to make it smooth and memorable for the kids. In the next update, I will be asking for volunteers to email us if they are available. We will have a variety of jobs that will need to be done and most will allow you to still watch your children run. Please give us some consideration and we will start compiling that list soon.

Charitable Contribution

Finally, we have chosen the Make it Happen Fund as the charitable contribution for the 2011 WELS Kids Marathon. I have been in contact with the Make it Happen Fund and will share more in an update real soon. I need to get some web links and story first. Please stay tuned.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email us at welskidsmarathon@yahoo.com

Thank you,

Bill Schneider
WELS Kids Marathon Director