2010 WELS Kids Marathon Update #5

4 more days! Just 4 more days until the final mile of the 2010 WELS Kids Marathon. Most of you are done with your miles and your reading but I know some of you are not quite there. Don’t give up now, you can do it! Finishing a marathon is winning a marathon.

I did a little calculating and did you know that all 395 of you that are participating this year have run/walked at least a total of 10,349 miles. That is like running from San Francisco to New York and back, then just for fun, running back to New York. That is a long way.

The weather is looking outstanding for us on Saturday with lots of sun and little chance of rain. Please plan on arrive no later than 9:30 as there will be a line at packet pickup. We will have 3 lines so please look for the line assigned you’re your last name to make things go smoother.

Time Line

Here is a quick time line of the events planned for Saturday:
9:00 Packet Pickup opens
9:40 Group Warm Up
9:55 National Anthem
10:00 First Race for Kids Currently in 4th Grade or Younger
10:20 (Approx) Second Race for Kids 5th Grade and Older
10:45 (Approx) Raffle Prize Giveaways

Directions

A quick reminder that if you need directions to Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Raabe Stadium can be found at the WELS Kids Marathon website. Please see this link for directions.

Pictures

I know a lot of parents will be taking pictures and video of the final event and of your kids. If you would like to share them with us, please send them to welskidsmarathon@yahoo.com. I would love to see your pictures and video if you have some.

Media

I have tried to contact some of the local TV stations to cover the final event but I haven’t had any luck so far. If anyone has a good contact person I could inform of our event, please let me know so we can try to get some good coverage.

Thank a Yellow Shirt

Be sure to thank someone in a yellow shirt of Saturday. These yellow shirt people are the great volunteers helping you all keep safe and enjoy the final mile of the WELS Kids Marathon. They are giving up their own time to help. I appreciate all their help and I hope you do too.

Sponsors

We have been blessed with some late donations of food and water for you to enjoy after you have completed your final mile. Kwik Trip stores in Oconomowoc, Wales, and Muskego as well as Potter’s Piggly Wiggly in Oak Creek have graciously donated Bananas and apples and Century Springs in Mukwonago has once again donated fresh spring water for you to rehydrate yourself after the run.

Again I would like to highlight our 2 main sponsors this year:

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has helped us our tremendously. “Nearly 3 million members turn to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to help meet their financial needs. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans offers a wide range of competitive products and personal service. We are committed to serving Lutheran families, communities and congregations. Proud sponsor of the WELS Kids Marathon.”
Southeast Wisconsin Region
20800 Swenson Dr. Ste 175
Waukesha, WI 53186
262-432-6280

Slingstone Products LLC is the Wisconsin distributor for Nicoat UV and water base coatings, as well as the complete line of printing blankets, parts and supplies from Rosmini Graphics. Based in Muskego, Slingstone provides sales and technical support to offset, flexo, and screen printers. The company name reflects the faith in God that owners Mark and Lori Schommer have used as a daily source of inspiration. The bible refers to the smooth stone that David used to slay Goliath as a "slingstone". David knew that God was with him as he fought Goliath just as the owners of Slingstone Products know that Gods presence is an important part of their success in business today. Congratulations to all runners and readers….. see you at the finish line! http://www.slingstoneproducts.com/

Website

There is a website (http://kidsmarathon.blogspot.com/) with all the information you may need concerning the 2010 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,

WELS Kids Marathon Organizing Committee
Bill Schneider – WELS Kids Marathon Director

WELS Kids Marathon Committee:
David Habben
Belinda Matter
Gwen Scherf
Sally Schneider
Greg Uehling

2010 WELS Kids Marathon Update #4

We are now less than 2 weeks until the final mile. The committee is working feverishly to get all the final details under control. And all of you are finishing your last few miles and books if you haven’t already done so. As a marathoner myself, I am so proud of all of you and all the work you have done to finish this marathon.

We are close enough to start praying for good weather. Be assured though, even if it is raining, we are still going to run. We are hoping, though, for a nice sunny day that is not too warm. Pictures always look better on a sunny day. And speaking of pictures, we are blessed once again to have Mike Scherf attending to take pictures for us that will be posted on our shutterfly website (password protected) for everyone to enjoy. If you plan on taking pictures yourself, please share with us as we love to see all aspects of the day!

Charity #2

We are pleased to have chosen as a second charity “MS Run The US”. Ashley Kumlien is a 25 year old woman from Brookfield who is running across the entire United States (San Francisco to New York) to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for the disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS). 27 years ago, Ashley’s mother was diagnosed with MS. Why is she doing this? From her website in her own words: “I chose to raise awareness for Multiple Sclerosis because my mother, Jill Kumlien, has been battling MS for over 27 years. This disease has robbed my mother of the abilities you and I take for granted every day. This run is a tribute to her daily triumph over disabilities associated with having MS, and to all others just like her living with the disabling affects of MS. All donated funds raised by MS Run the US will contribute to The Montel Williams MS Foundation and The National MS Society.”

If you or any parents wants more information about Ashley or MS Run The US or would like to donate to her cause, please visit her website at

www.msruntheus.com

Prizes:

We have lots of prizes that have been donated for us to give away at the final mile. You must be present to win a prize and we have lots of prizes to give away. Here is a brief list of most of the prizes (we still have more coming):

6 Nike $25 Gift Card

Bernie the Brewer Bobblehead Doll

Milwaukee Brewers Cinch Pack with Brewers Water Bottle and Brewers T-shirt

2 Ticket Vouchers for a Milwaukee Bucks game in the upcoming season

4 Ticket Vouchers for a Milwaukee Admirals Game (Stern and Bow pack)

2 Complimentary Race entries from Midwest Sports Events for the 2011 Pewaukee Kids Triathlon
Midwest Sports Events Kids Backpacks

2 Performance Running $50 Gift Certificates

2 InStep Running & Walking Centers $50 Gift Certificates

2 Bicycle Doctors $50 Gift Certificates

2 Athlete’s Foot in New Berlin $50 Gift Certificates

Multiple Gift Certificates Barnes & Noble

3 Lasertag Adventure Memberships

Multiple Wisconsin Lutheran High School Shirts

Multiple Wisconsin Lutheran College Shirts

3 Posters donated by Wisconsin Lutheran High School

Race shirts from different marathon around Wisconsin including the Icebreaker Indoor Marathon, Fox Cities Marathon, Paavo Nurmi Marathon, WhistleStop Marathon, The Wisconsin Marathon, and others.

We also have 2 Complimentary Race entries from Midwest Sports Events for the 2011 Pewaukee Adult Triathlon to be given as prizes to some lucky volunteers.

Volunteers

I want to thank all of you who have already volunteered to help us out on August 28th, and some of you helping out even earlier stuffing goodie bags. We could still use a few more to make sure we run a smooth and safe event on the 28th. Please email us at

welskidsmarathon@yahoo.com if you are interested in helping. We have about 40 shirts to give out to our volunteers. We are in need of the following:

Course Marshall's to keep the kids safe

Food Prep Set Up

Registration/Packet Pickup Table

Clean Up Committee

Medal Hand Out

Sponsors

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has helped us our tremendously. “Nearly 3 million members turn to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to help meet their financial needs. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans offers a wide range of competitive products and personal service. We are committed to serving Lutheran families, communities and congregations. Proud sponsor of the WELS Kids Marathon.”

Southeast Wisconsin Region
20800 Swenson Dr. Ste 175
Waukesha, WI 53186
262-432-6280

We are also happy to announce that La Campagne Bakery of Mequon is donating cookies again this year.

Website

There is a website (

http://kidsmarathon.blogspot.com/) with all the information you may need concerning the 2010 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.

Final Event

A friendly reminder that the final event begins at 9:00AM and we ask that all participants arrive no later than 9:30 as we anticipate large lines to get through the packet pick up tables. We are planning a system to make this process smooth but we also have almost 400 participants that need to get there goodie bags.

Thank you,

WELS Kids Marathon Organizing Committee

Bill Schneider – WELS Kids Marathon Director

WELS Kids Marathon Committee:

David Habben

Belinda Matter

Gwen Scherf

Sally Schneider

Greg Uehling

2010 WELS Kids Marathon Update #3

Hi Kids and Parents! How is your summer going? It has been quite hot this summer, hasn’t it? Make sure you are drinking plenty of water when you are our exercising and running. And a nice cool glass of ice water goes great with a good book!

Running has become very popular again in the USA. Each of the past years, there are more and more marathon finishers from the US. I was signing up for a marathon taking place this fall on Sunday morning and the race filled to capacity in ONLY 32 minutes. Sounds like a concert, not a marathon. Marathoning is a popular sport now and you are all apart of it. I can’t wait to see all of you cross the finish line on August 28th and get that coveted finishers medal around your neck.

Here are a few statistics about who is in this years WELS Kids Marathon. We have 395 participants, just over double what we had last year. Here is the grade breakdown with the grade you all are going into:
K – 15
1st – 25
2nd – 51
3rd – 57
4th – 71
5th – 55
6th – 52
7th – 41
8th – 25
Other – 3
Looks like the 4th graders are going to be everywhere.
There are also kids from 33 different school!

Ultimate Challenge

Are you trying to become an Ultimate Challenge Marathoner? These are the kids who are running 52 miles and reading 52 books or 52 hours. Please email us at welskidsmarathon@yahoo.com if you are trying to get the Ultimate Challenge done. We have a little something for you but we need to know how many of you are doing it.

TV Report

I heard from someone that the WELS Kids Marathon was mentioned on TV recently. Have any of you heard this? If so, please let me know about it. I would love to hear all about it.

Can’t make the Final Event

We know that some of you can’t make the final event on August 28th. This does not mean you can’t still finish the WELS Kids Marathon. Please complete all your miles and reading and you will still be a WELS Kids Marathon Finisher. In an effort to save on postage, please email us so we can send your goodie bag with shirt and finishers medal with your school’s representative. They can take it to your school for you to get once school begins. We appreciate your cooperation with this.

Sponsors

We could not do this marathon without the support of all our great sponsors including our latest sponsor Dupont Cheese – Marion. One of the original sponsors and great supporter of the WELS Kids Marathon in Slingstone Products:

Slingstone Products LLC is the Wisconsin distributor for Nicoat UV and water base coatings, as well as the complete line of printing blankets, parts and supplies from Rosmini Graphics. Based in Muskego, Slingstone provides sales and technical support to offset, flexo, and screen printers. The company name reflects the faith in God that owners Mark and Lori Schommer have used as a daily source of inspiration. The bible refers to the smooth stone that David used to slay Goliath as a "slingstone". David knew that God was with him as he fought Goliath just as the owners of Slingstone Products know that Gods presence is an important part of their success in business today. Congratulations to all runners and readers….. see you at the finish line! http://www.slingstoneproducts.com/



Also, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has helped us our tremendously. “Nearly 3 million members turn to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to help meet their financial needs. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans offers a wide range of competitive products and personal service. We are committed to serving Lutheran families, communities and congregations. Proud sponsor of the WELS Kids Marathon.”
Southeast Wisconsin Region
20800 Swenson Dr. Ste 175
Waukesha, WI 53186
262-432-6280

Volunteers

We are still looking for a lot of volunteers for the final event on August 28th. If you are available to help out, please mail us at welskidsmarathon@yahoo.com. All the work is very easy and most allow you to be able to be there when your child is running the final mile. We are in need of the following:
Course Marshall's to keep the kids safe
Food Prep Set Up
Registration/Packet Pickup Table
Clean Up Committee
Medal Hand Out

Website

There is a website (http://kidsmarathon.blogspot.com/) with all the information you may need concerning the 2010 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.

Final Event

A friendly reminder that the final event begins at 9:00AM and we ask that all participants arrive no later than 9:30 as we anticipate large lines to get through the packet pick up tables. We are planning a system to make this process smooth but we also have almost 400 participants that need to get there goodie bags.

Thank you,

WELS Kids Marathon Organizing Committee
Bill Schneider – WELS Kids Marathon Director

WELS Kids Marathon Committee:
David Habben
Belinda Matter
Gwen Scherf
Sally Schneider
Greg Uehling