It's Time to Say Goodbye to The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation

In 2009, I formed a non-profit organization called The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation -- PACE being Promoting Active Children Everywhere.

The mission of the foundation was to encourage, educate, inspire, and motivate children worldwide to adopt life-long habits toward a healthy lifestyle; to expand their knowledge of the world around them; and, to pursue their goals and dreams with the abilities they possess. While President of The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation, I spoke to thousands of school children in the United States and Europe through assemblies with the hope that my message would spur them on toward a healthier lifestyle. Now, 13 years after forming the foundation, I am dissolving it and retiring from actively promoting health and fitness to a national and global audience of children.

I'm about to turn 57 years of age and my focus has now shifted. These days, my running is much more personal and has a stronger spiritual component than in the past. Also, rather than aiming to encourage or inspire young people who are several decades beneath my age, I would like to try and challenge those who are 50+ in age. 

The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation saw participation from nearly 100,000 school children from 12 countries in numerous PACE Trek running/walking challenges across states and countries. Those children logged a total of nearly a half million miles – enough to circle the globe 20 times!

As I lead the foundation I had seven teaching goals:

• The importance of good health/nutrition, as well as the benefits of frequent and consistent exercise.
• The benefits that can be experienced from running and/or walking.
• That if you take care of your body it can take you on some wonderful adventures.
• Interesting information about the various locations that I ran through completely alone.
• The importance of setting goals and pursuing dreams, no matter the obstacles in front of you.
• That a positive attitude and the desire to positively impact the lives of others can be very rewarding.
• That perseverance can take you places that you never imagined you could go.

The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation also participated in child-focused health and fitness seminars, as well as presentations at schools, conferences, and other settings. Educational curriculums were also developed by the foundation to benefit school children, such curriculums promoting an active and healthy lifestyle.

I am closing the doors on the foundation with great satisfaction in my heart for what was achieved over the years. It will be the only non-profit organization that I will form in my lifetime and to know that it reached children around the globe means a lot to me. Now, it's time to run forward into the next chapter of my running life. For those of you who take time to stop by this blog now and then to read the words of this runner, I thank you.

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

The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation, Inc.

After I did my 500-mile run through Alaska in 2009, I decided to form a non-profit youth fitness foundation to encourage children on a global scale toward greater health and fitness.

The mission of The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation, Inc. has been to encourage, educate, inspire, and motivate children worldwide to adopt life-long habits toward a healthy lifestyle; to expand their knowledge of the world around them; and, to pursue their goals and dreams with the abilities they possess. P.A.C.E. stands for "Promoting Active Children Everywhere."

Over the years, The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation has aimed to fulfill its mission through an array of projects and events. The foundation has organized and executed ultra-endurance events (called "PACE Trek") in which I – the organization's founder and president – run across states and countries solo while virtually including children worldwide. During these endurance adventures I use an online classroom to teach about locations, health and fitness, goal setting, and running. Students track my progress in real time and run with me virtually in teams at their schools, trying to accumulate as a group the same distance that I'm accomplishing solo. To date, nearly 100,000 school children from 12 countries have participated in PACE Trek events, logging a total of nearly a half million miles – enough to circle the globe 20 times! With each PACE Trek challenge I have had seven teaching goals:

• The importance of good health/nutrition, as well as the benefits of frequent and consistent exercise.
• The benefits that can be experienced from running and/or walking.
• That if you take care of your body it can take you on some wonderful adventures.
• Interesting information about the various locations that I run through completely alone.
• The importance of setting goals and pursuing dreams, no matter what obstacles might be in front of you.
• That a positive attitude and the desire to positively impact the lives of others can be very rewarding.
• That perseverance can take you places that you never imagined you could get to.

The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation has also participated in child-focused health and fitness seminars, as well as presentations at schools, conferences, and other settings. Educational curriculums have also been developed by the foundation to benefit school children, such curriculums promoting an active and healthy lifestyle.

The Board of Directors of The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation is responsible for management and oversight of the organization and affairs of the corporation in accordance with its Bylaws. This includes management of the corporate assets and allocation of corporate resources to projects benefiting youth. The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). The organization's tax-exempt status began on June 8, 2009.

I'm proud of what has been accomplished through the Foundation since its inception. I thank all who have served, and currently serve, on the Board of Directors. There are more mileposts ahead and The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation will continue with its aim of educating, motivating and inspiring young people.

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

Who Is Outside More -- Children or Prisoners?

Who spends more time outside, a child... or a maximum-security prisoner? Watch this film to find out.



We've gotten to the point where children spend less time outside each day than prison inmates do in the United States. Inmates are guaranteed two hours of outdoor time daily, whereas one in two children is outside for less than an hour each day. A recent survey of 12,000 parents in 10 countries (United States, Brazil, U.K., Turkey, Portugal, South Africa, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and India), who have children aged 5 to 12, found that one-third of kids spend under 30 minutes outside each day.

The short film above reveals how important it is for inmates to have their outdoor time on a daily basis and how surprised they are to learn that kids get even less. The inmates describe daily outdoors time as “probably the most important part of my day... It keeps my mind right, keeps my body strong.”

This new survey reiterates what we’ve been hearing from many different sources – that kids are spending far too much time in the house watching screens, instead of engaging in free play outdoors, using their imaginations and getting dirty. It's unfortunate that it takes a comparison to prison inmates to make us realize how little time outdoors children are experiencing. As one prisoner said:

“I didn’t know what freedom was until it was taken from me. It’s devastating... you can never escape the wall. You can never escape your mind. Then imagine they open your door; you have time to walk out that door and feel the sun on your face. It’s everything to me.”

Whatever the cause of children’s reduction in time outdoors (excessive rigidity in schools; increased time on electronic devices; parental fears about their child’s safety; etc.), experts agree it’s a problem that must be addressed.

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

10 Years Since My Solo Run Across America

Today marks 10 years since I began my solo 3,260-mile run across the United States. The 108-day journey was done to keep a promise I had made to some elementary students. In some ways, I can't believe that 10 years have already gone by. The memories of that run seem so fresh! I was 41 years old back in 2006 and had four children between the ages of 6 and 13. Now, my children are 16, 18, 21 and 23 -- my eldest being an elementary teacher. Being away from my children during the summer of 2006 as I crossed 15 states was the hardest part of that journey and I know that back then they were too young to truly understand why I was doing the run or the magnitude of the challenge. Why in the world would their Dad run 30 miles per day from Oregon to Delaware? They may still be scratching their heads about that one!

Life has presented me with many twists and turns in the road over the past 10 years. Most of my children are now adults and are blazing their own paths in life. I'm so proud of them. Since I completed the coast-to-coast run I have also run solo across Montana, Alaska, Germany, and the Mojave Desert -- promoting youth health and fitness with each stride. I've spoken to thousands of school children through assemblies, was inducted as the first European PTA Youth Ambassador, and given a special award from the Mayo Clinic for my efforts in combating childhood obesity in America. Unfortunately, along the path I was on the receiving end of divorce papers. That occurred several years ago and resulted in some people distancing themselves from me. I can only hope that in time some bridges will be mended.

Just like a journey run, there are peaks and valleys on life's road. Over the past five years since I completed my last adventure run (the Mojave Desert) I've experienced more 'valleys' than 'peaks.' However, life took a positive upturn last year and I'm experiencing more peaks than valleys these days. I have a challenging yet rewarding job and for the past year I've been in a positive, fulfilling relationship with someone that I love unconditionally and who genuinely returns love the same way. I've held onto my non-profit organization, The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation, even though it has been sitting dormant since the Mojave Desert run in 2011. I've encouraged a few people who have reached out to me for advice with their own transcontinental running attempts and have done presentations as time and opportunities allow.

As this ten year anniversary of my run across America has been approaching, I've been reflecting back on my running career -- which began in 1975 when I was 10 years old. My running has taken me places that I never imagined my feet would carry me when I was a 5th grader running my first timed mile. I remember a day back then when I ran to the edge of our neighborhood and stopped (because my Mom told me that was the boundary). I looked down the road and imagined what it would be like to just keep going... and possibly run all the way across town. Well, that wide-eyed elementary student who was growing up during the "running boom" of the 70's got to run a lot farther than just across town!

At the age of 19 I wanted to run a marathon. I logged a lot of training miles, but was too broke to get to any marathon races. So, I jumped into my old VW Bug and drove 13.1 miles out from my college campus. I made a chalk line on the road, placed a bottle of water in the bushes, and drove back to campus. Then, I ran out to that chalk line and back again. I had completed my first "marathon." In 1986 I made my first attempt to run across America (sponsored by New Balance, Timex, Gatorade, and a company that was relatively new called "Oakley, Inc."), but I got injured early on and had to stop the run. That was 8 years before Forrest Gump ran across America on movie screens. In the past 4+ decades I've run enough miles to circle the globe a couple times. In so many ways, running has been a constant in my life... something to lean on, rely on, and something that would bring out the best in me. I guess you could say that running has been a significant factor in defining who I am.

So, here I am... 51 years old and the most content and focused that I've been since I ran 506 miles across the Mojave Desert in 17 days. I still have "BOB" (my "Beast Of Burden" support stroller) and have been focusing in on what I want to do with my running and with The PACE Fitness Foundation that I started many years ago. I have a pretty clear picture of where I want my footsteps to go and for what reason. For today, I'm content with reflecting back to June 23, 2006 and what a wonderful day that was. I took the first of what would be 6.2 million steps across America while pushing a stroller weighing over 60 pounds. Starting in front of "Haystack Rock" (a monolith) at Cannon Beach, Oregon was perfect. Friends and family were there to wish me well, and my four children ran the first 1/4 mile with me down the beach. Yes, the memories are still so vivid that it is hard to believe a decade has already passed.

Life is indeed a journey of twists and turns, valleys and peaks. I'm standing on the highest peak I've experienced in the past five years and the view is great. It's time to not only look to the horizon beyond the neighborhood, but to also run there. I hope you'll follow along via my writings and pictures in this blog. It's going to be quite an adventure!

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