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Blog Entry 14 of 16 Tarzana Housewife Trials and Triumphs

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Kids (and Moms) Fitness Challenge

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Contributed by: Kathleen Melton on 1/28/2008

Out of necessity, over the winter break, I took both my boys to several of my outdoor exercise classes run by Eve Fleck of Gym Without Walls.

Good old-fashioned physical fitness drills and cardiovascular training - rain or shine - on Friday mornings and Sunday mornings.

They both moaned and groaned a bit, but finally decided it was better than staying at home and cleaning out their closets (which was the only alternative given to them). Several other moms brought their kids too.

After the initial, "It's too cold," "I don't want to this," etc... Kendall and Kamden and the other kids actually enjoyed it. Especially Kendall when he discovered he could beat me in sprints.

What was interesting was seeing some of them get in touch with the competitive side of their personality. Kid vs. Mom. Kid vs. Kid. Mom vs. Everyone Else's Kids. It was fabulous fun.

It's because we brought our kids that Eve told us all about the Kids Fitness Challenge 5K at the Rose Bowl. My kids were instantly bugging me to register. All the Kids Fitness Challenge events are free, so it was an easy decision.

I logged on to www.fitnesschallengefoundation.org and pre-registered the three of us. The event is put on to encourage activity amongst school age children, awarding grants and equipment to the schools with the most participants on the day of the event.

Out of the thousands of people there, we were the only representatives from our school, a fact that we will be trying to change having now experienced the event.

As our county's youth seems to be spiraling into a very unhealthful state of inactivity (regardless of how ferverently they may shake that Wii remote), it was wonderful to see thousands and thousands of kids running and laughing like the young banshees that they are around the perimeter of the Rose Bowl.

An impressive number of school buses filled the parking lots (this was a big event for several schools in attendance), event staff directed traffic and police blocked off and barricaded the streets that we ran on.

Firefighters, corporate sponsors with booths and fabulous free give-a-ways, bouncy houses, climbing walls, the USC marching band, some local politicians and a few celebrities turned out to support the event through the Get Healthy California Expo and made it a wonderful and positive experience for all that attended.

For me and for Kendall, one of the most exciting parts was being able to experience running out of the Rose Bowl tunnel into the end zone and actually being able to be on the grass level of the Rose Bowl field.

We were fascinated at how beautiful the grass was - and that it was real. As someone who can barely get any grass to grow at all in my own backyard, I will definitely be looking into what type it is they use here that stands up to professional football.

This was our first 5K. It was a beautiful morning, with the sun shining and everything glistening from the hard rain the day before. But it was early (I can't remember the last time I saw a sunrise - LA is so beautiful at that time), it was cold, and the run seemed oddly longer than the 3.2 miles we knew it to be.

But we had a great time, and ran most of it. Kendall actually sprinted the last leg - leaving me in the dust.

We have already signed up for our second 5K in February - one in which there are actual prizes to be won, because while I just want to keep my kids moving and spend fun time with them, they want to feed their competitive natures and try to win something.

What they don't realize yet is that by enjoying this experience and building a desire to do it again, they already have won.

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