The Pheidippides 5K Fun Run: Building Health and Grit

The Pheidippides 5K Fun Run is an initiative led by award-winning teachers Larry Light and William Beshears, aimed at improving health and building grit among students. This initiative arose in response to declining motivation and lingering academic issues following the COVID years of online learning. As a result, not only has cardiovascular fitness improved, but classroom motivation and focus have also seen significant gains.

Since the beginning of the year, students have been working towards a 5K goal, running a 3K race in the first term and a 4K race in the second term. Initially, many students struggled to run even a quarter mile. Now, they regularly run over a mile with substantial improvements in their run times (see table). The process involved placing students in heterogeneous teams, each team with a baton, and running daily alongside their teachers.

The 5K race was a resounding success, with 4th graders and their families celebrating a year's worth of effort in this milestone event for the school.