Running teaches kids about health, charity
Toddler Trot, Kids Marathon part of Pittsburgh Marathon weekend
Mallory Osleger and her husband, Kent, do not consider themselves to be runners. When Mallory found out that she could join a Pittsburgh Marathon team raising money to help fight Ataxia-telangiectasia, though, she wanted to become involved.
Her niece and nephew, ages 6 and 3, suffer from the rare inherited disease, which affects the nervous and immune systems and begins in early childhood.
Ms. Osleger’s children, 2-yearold Alexandra and 1-year-old Keegan, will participate in the Sheetz Pittsburgh Toddler Trot, one of several races taking place over the course of the Pittsburgh Marathon weekend.
The event, she said, will give her entire family the opportunity to raise money for an important cause.
“The more I read about the Toddler Trot, it really sounded like a nice thing we could do as a family,” Ms. Osleger said. “We could raise money for the disease and we could start our kids off really early in life. Also, we’re looking to support their cousins and the charity and learning to give back.”
The Oslegers will be one of several families participating in the Toddler Trot, a 100-meter run for children up to age 5. Because of the unpredictable nature of a race designed for children who recently learned how to walk, the race has a few rules. The children must be able to walk with minimal assistance, and an adult is required to accompany each child.
Though it can be tough to get toddlers to settle down and train for such an event, families have developed different strategies to make sure their young ones are ready for it. Because kids tend to be naturally energetic, many of the strategies boil down to giving their children mental support, since some of the toddlers are so young they don’t quite understand the purpose of the race.
Mallory Osleger said that though her kids may not understand the scope of the race, it doesn’t take much to persuade them to go outside and run.
“Obviously, being 1 and 2, they like to run anyway,” Ms. Osleger said. “They’re pretty much balls of energy, so they should have no problem. At the end of the day they’re toddlers, so they’re going to show up. Could be kind of unpredictable.”
Sarah Aziz will do the toddler race with her 2-year-old son, Andy. She began running marathons after her aunt was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. She has run marathons in 18 states, and her children have grown up in an active environment.
She doesn’t have to do much to keep her two sons engaged with exercise. However, Andy and his older brother, 5-year-old August, have followed the Kids of STEEL exercise and nutrition program to prepare for the event. August did the Toddler Trot last year and will participate in the Toyota of Pittsburgh Kids Marathon this year, a one-mile race.
“We have the little nutrition grid that they sent in an email, put it on our fridge,” Ms. Aziz said. “We check off all the color foods that they eat. We’ve talked about how running is part of life and it keeps you healthy. Folded into nutrition, it’s cool how you get those tools. My older one ran a bunch of the little kid races when we lived in New York. I don’t remember getting such involved information, so it’s nice.”
Melissa Orehowsky also is a frequent marathon runner and will have two sons participate during the weekend. Her oldest son, 5-year old Brendan, will do the onemile race, and her youngest son, 2-year-old Austin, will do the 100-meter race. They are running for the ALS Association because her father died from the disease.
Teams raise money via crowdrise.com, a crowdfunding website that allows team members to accept donations for their nonprofit of choice. As of Friday evening, team members running for the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the ALS Association had raised $48,354.
Brendan and Austin are also a part of the Kids of STEEL nutrition program. For Melissa, the game plan during the Toddler Trot will be to encourage Austin to cross the finish line. He’ll be motivated by his brother, who ran the event last year and can give him support leading into the event.
During last year’s Toddler Trot, Austin, who was too young for the event, “kept getting out of the stroller and running,” Ms. Orehowsky said. “Definitely with that, he probably ran over a mile. The crowds would cheer him on and he’d go give people high fives and when he got tired he’d get back in the stroller. So we’d do stuff like that with him to kinda get him running.”
The Toddler Trot gives parents the opportunity to teach their kids about charity and giving back at a young age, all while teaching them how to be physically active.
“It’s really nice that it’s starting so early and everyone is so supportive,” Ms. Aziz said. “There’s kind of this mindset amongst this group of people to live a healthy lifestyle, be active with their kids.”