Running 9 Miles to School at the Age of 7

When I drive to work in the morning I go past a middle school and high school. The number of cars in a snake-like line flowing into the schools of our small community are staggering. Bike racks stand empty and crossing guards stare at their smart phones because so few students can be seen walking to school. 

I recently read about a boy named James who grew up in Uganda running 9 miles one way to school every day. James is now 33 years old and I want to share with you his description of getting to school when he was only 7 years of age:

When I was 7, I'd get up by 5 a.m. to help gather the cows from the farm and to help my cousins with the milking as the early morning orange sun rose over the hills of my village of Kempungu. Then I'd drink a cup of milk and eat a baked sweet potato and head to school. This would be my only meal until the evening. Soon after my breakfast, at around 6:30 a.m., I would run 9 miles barefoot to school. And it wasn't a leisurely jog. I had to be there in time for the 8 a.m. bell and the hygiene check at 8:15. Latecomers got six strokes of the cane. 

The path was unpaved and sometimes dangerous. Some days a snake would slither across my path or I might run into a hyena or wild dogs that could have rabies. With the stick I carried to protect myself, I killed several snakes on my way to school and scared away many dogs. 

During the rainy season, from late September to late November or even early December, there was an additional obstacle. A big swampy creek about a mile from school flooded daily. I'd take off my school uniform and put it in my book bag to keep it dry. I'd swim with one hand while using the other hand to hold the bag on my head. If the water was too deep, I would ask an older cousin to carry me on his back. 

But I didn't mind the long journey. Neither did my cousins and friends. Sure, the trek was challenging, but school was a haven for us. I was always glad to arrive. It was the one place where I felt like a kid. I didn't have to do the unending chores of fetching water or firewood or cutting grass to thatch a roof. And I didn't have to worry about — and care for — my sick relatives, like the uncle dying of AIDS. 

School usually let out at 4:30, and the journey home was more relaxed than the morning commute. We took our time and enjoyed it, splashing water at each other. It was our own refreshment after a long day at school.

That's 18 miles roundtrip (on foot!) to school each day. I thought about that and realized that many school children in America who live even within a 1/2 mile of school don't walk or bike. Instead, their parents drive them -- some out of concern for child safety in a world where crimes are headline news every day. It's a sad fact that in the 1960's fifty percent of American children walked or biked to school, compared to only about thirteen percent today.

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso

_______________________________________

Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past

Is Your School a Part of the "Safe Routes to School" Program?

When I was planning my solo run across the Mojave Desert, I got in touch with the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. They helped to promote my running adventure to schools in the USA so that children could trek along with me virtually by logging distance while going to and from school.

SRTS programs are sustained efforts by parents, schools, community leaders and local, state, and federal governments to improve the health and well-being of children by enabling and encouraging them to walk and bicycle to school. I think it's a wonderful and worthwhile program!

Children today are simply not getting enough physical activity, contributing to growing rates of obesity and obesity-related health problems. SRTS projects make it safer for more children to walk and bicycle to school, which helps to address and combat the obesity crisis among children.

The SRTS statistics show:

• Over the past 40 years, rates of obesity have soared among children of all ages in the United States, and approximately 25 million children and adolescents — more than 33% — are now overweight or obese, or at risk of becoming so.
• Kids are less active today, and 23% of children get no free time physical activity at all.
• The prevalence of obesity is so great that today’s generation of children may be the first in over 200 years to live less healthy and have a shorter lifespan than their parents.
• High rates of obesity and low rates of physical activity mean that more than half of Latina girls are expected to get diabetes over the course of their lifetime, and the numbers are almost as high for African American girls.
• Today, approximately one-quarter of health care costs in the United States are attributable to obesity, and health care costs just for childhood obesity are estimated at approximately $14 billion per year.
• People living in auto-oriented suburbs drive more, walk less, and are more obese than people living in walkable communities. For each hour of driving per day, obesity increases 6 percent, but walking for transportation reduces the risk of obesity.
• Walking one mile to and from school each day is two-thirds of the recommended sixty minutes of physical activity a day. Plus, children who walk to school have higher levels of physical activity throughout the day.

SRTS programs also benefit academic performance through the physical fitness that it encourages children to do!

• Physical activity and fitness boost learning and memory in children; fitness-associated performance benefits are largest for those situations in which initial learning is the most challenging.
• Sixth- and ninth-grade students with high fitness scored significantly better on math and social studies tests compared with less fit students, even after controlling for socioeconomic status. Muscular strength and muscular endurance were significantly associated with academic achievement in all grades.
• Lower performing students appear to derive particular benefit from physical activity.  In addition, short bicycling exercise periods resulted in enhanced neuronal activity and increased cognitive performance for teenagers with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
• When children get physical activity before class, they are more on task and fidget less.  This is true for both girls and boys, and has been shown to be particularly beneficial for children who have the most trouble paying attention and those with attention deficit disorders.

SRTS projects focus on infrastructure improvements, student traffic education, and driver enforcement that improve safety for children, many of whom already walk or bicycle in unsafe conditions.

• People walking are more than twice as likely to be struck by a vehicle in locations without sidewalks.
• More than 7% of high school students reported missing at least one day of school in the past 30 days because they felt unsafe from bullying or violence either at school or on their way to or from school.
• A safety analysis by the California Department of Transportation estimated that the safety benefit of SRTS caused a 49 percent decrease in the childhood bicycle and pedestrian collision rates.

SRTS projects increase the number of children walking and bicycling to school, which also cuts down on the number of cars. As cars emit pollutants for each mile traveled, reducing traffic can improve the quality of air that children breathe in and around their schools.

• Children exposed to traffic pollution are more likely to have asthma, permanent lung deficits, and a higher risk of heart and lung problems as adults.
• Over the last 25 years, among children ages 5 to 14, there has been a 74 percent increase in asthma cases. In addition, 14 million days of school are missed every year due to asthma.
• One-third of schools are in “air pollution danger zones.”
• Schools that are designed so children can walk and bicycle have measurably better air quality.
• A 5% increase in a neighborhood’s “walkability” reduces vehicle miles traveled by 6%.

I was born in 1965 and research shows that if we could return to mid-1960's levels of walking and bicycling to school it would save 3.2 billion vehicle miles, 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, and 89,000 tons of other pollutants — equal to keeping more than 250,000 cars off the road for a year! I believe our society has benefited a lot from 'advancements' over the years, but I wish that we could return to the frequency of walking/bicycling to school as we did 50 years ago.

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso

_______________________________________

Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past