Santa Fe South Runners Get Laced Up for the Kids Marathon
The energy in the air at Santa Fe South Elementary School was noticeable. The gathered crowd of students, teachers, and volunteers murmured excitedly, waiting for the program to begin. On March 28th, C4K's newest partnership with the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon culminated in a fun-filled distribution event in Santa Fe South's gym! When C4K staff walked in that day we were absolutely floored - the SFS community had painted an amazing banner thanking us and had set up a stage complete with balloons. Every single member of the school community we met that day was so kind and excited to have us - it really made the event that much more special.
Partnering with the Marathon team on this distribution event was a true honor and embodies the concept of the Oklahoma Standard. We value any chance to work with other nonprofit organizations and businesses because we know we can do so much more when we work together! Thank you so much to the entire team at the Oklahoma National Memorial & Museum and the marathon that made this possible.
At the distribution event, Running Club coach Dimitri W. introduced Mikayla Darden from the Marathon and Allyson Meyer from C4K to share a bit about the importance of staying active while getting the kids excited. We also heard from Principal Kim Figueroa (also known as Mrs. Fig) about the importance of sports and running for the school culture. Then the work of fitting each of the 175 runners with their brand new running shoes began! As kids were fitted they joined Mikayla and Memorial Marathon volunteers for a quick run outside. The kids couldn't wait to train with the adults. Over the course of the month, the entire club will run 25 miles together. The kids running in the Kids Marathon will run the final 1.2 miles on April 28th.
C4K would like to take a moment to thank the amazing volunteers who spent the afternoon with us and made sure that this distribution event went so smoothly! Your support means the world to us. We would also like to thank our partners at Red Coyote Running & Fitness for facilitating the fitting event earlier in March and also for helping us secure such a large number of shoes! We couldn't have done this without them.
See more photos from the event below! We wish each of the runners participating in the Kids Marathon a great #RunToRemember!
Video by Tony Stizza
At the end of the day we met a Santa Fe South student who does regular training runs with his mother and younger brother around Lake Hefner! He plans to run his own marathon one day.
