Flying Pig Marathon - Training Day 1

by Katelyn M.

Have you ever heard of the Flying Pig Marathon? Well, guess what! Here at our school, North Pointe, we are training kids who want to participate. And I, Katelyn, am one of those kids!
The first day of 16 trainings was on Monday, the 8th of February. I was nervous and excited as my mom dropped me off. I entered the gym, and sat down close to where the supervisor, Mr. Brown, was explaining what we’d do. “Are we going to play any games?” one kid asked. “Yes, we will,” answered Mr. Brown. “Now, let’s get warmed up.” We started off with stretches, and then we jogged a bit in place to get ready. Then, when Mr. Brown told us to, we started running. It was easy at first, but after 10 laps or so, I started getting tired, and I had 15 more. But I persevered, and pushed through it.
When I had done 19 laps, Mr. Brown called us over, and said we were going to play Sharks and Minnows. I was in the shark group at first, and tagged 7 or 8 people. The next game, I was part of the Minnows. I didn’t get out at first, but as I strategically avoided the Minnows that have gotten tagged, some of the Sharks chased me and cornered me, where I couldn’t escape. So then I got tagged. After we finished that round up, Mr. Brown said we could get drinks of water. I was extremely thirsty after all that running and exercising. After everyone drank their fill at the water fountain, Mr. Brown told us that we could finish up our laps. I had 6 more, and took a long time to finish them up, because I was so tired.
When everyone completed their laps, Mr. Brown gave us packets that had nutrition tips, and goals, like when you had done 1 mile, you would not drink any pop (easy for me, since I don’t drink pop or soda), you’d eat fruits and vegetables, and dairy and whole grain too! At 8:30, we left the gym to go to our classrooms.
I had fun that day, and felt extremely healthy and fit. I hadn’t felt that healthy since I rode my bike around my whole neighborhood almost every day in the summertime! But then the next day, my legs were tired, I can guess, from running a mile the day before. Oh well. I’d better get used to it, because I’ve still got 15 more practices before I’m ready for the REAL Flying Pig Marathon on May 1st!