Read, Right & Run Marathon®

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What exactly is the Read, Right & Run Marathon®?
The Read, Right & Run Marathon is the youth initiative of the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon & Family Fitness Weekend®. It was created to promote reading proficient, physically fit and community-minded children. To that end, children are challenged to read 26 books, perform 26 good deeds and run 26.2 miles over a six-month period. All of that hard work culminates each year when the K-5 students run their final 1.2 miles and the middle schoolers run a 5K (3.1 miles) at our April Family Day in Forest Park.


A new enhancement for 2007 is the ULTRAMARATHON for middle school students. Children in grades 6 – 8 will run a total of 50 miles. Initially, this may seem like a lot, but when broken down, middle school students need to run more in order to truly be ready to take on our 5K. Our goal is to better prepare children for the distance and complete the event successfully. The number of books and good deeds remains at twenty-six (26).

How long does the program last?
Generally, this is a six-month program. We suggest the training period begin in October and end on race day in April. However, many children can finish the “training” in less time.

I would like to be the Read, Right & Run Marathon coordinator for my school. How do I sign-up?
Your first step is to contact the Special Events Manager, Courtney Irwin, by either email (ckispirit@sbcglobal.net) or phone (314.727.0800), and request a School Commitment Form. After you fill-out the form with all of the necessary information and send it back to us, your school will be entered into our database. We will then send applications and logs to you for distribution to interested students.

Do you accept individual participants?
Yes. If your child is home-schooled, or if your child’s school has not signed-up, then we do allow children to participate independently.

I live outside St. Louis, can my child still participate?
Yes. However, if you register, we would like parents and children to commit to completing all components of the Read, Right & Run Marathon. This includes showing up for the Saturday, April 14, 2007 Family Day Events in Forest Park. The 5K run at 7:30 a.m. (for students in grades 6 – 8) or the 1.2 mile run at 8:45 a.m. (for K – 5 grade students).

What is my role as a Read, Right & Run Marathon coordinator?
Our job is to make your job easy by providing you with all of the tools. For example, once a school commits to the program, we supply the following information: suggested books to read, a list of good deeds, recommended running schedules and fun running games that can be substituted for miles. Ultimately, the goal is to keep children in constant motion for 12-15 continuous minutes. All children receive a log to record their books, deeds and miles.


We ask for the coordinators help in two areas. First, coordinators are responsible for collecting the applications (which must be signed by a parent or legal guardian), along with the registration fee.


Secondly, about three weeks before our race day, we package each child’s “goody bag” with a t-shirt, race number and various donations. Then we gather all the goody bags per school and ask the coordinator to make one trip to our office to collect everything for his/her school.

Do the coordinators have to be teachers?
No. While most Read, Right & Run Marathon coordinators are physical education teachers, we also have many parents, reading specialists, librarians and school administrators who take on the coordinator duties.

How many students participate?
The Read, Right & Run Marathon has grown steadily since its inception in 2001. On April 8, 2006 more than 2800 children from 67 schools in the metropolitan area participated. We are expecting 3500 students from more than 100 schools on April 14, 2007.

Will the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon be sponsoring any children’s training runs?
Yes. In order to assist the coordinators, we will be offering 6 "training runs" for students two Saturdays per month in Forest Park. They will begin in January and end in March. Since middle school children will be required to run twice a week to help build up stamina, these training runs will be devoted to the "long runs". The training sessions will be supervised by local running professionals and refreshments will be served. Children must be accompanied by an adult. All participants will be required to fill-out a registration form for each training run.  Click here for more information.

If a child is unable to make race day on April 14, will he or she still be given a medal?
Unfortunately, no. Much like a regular marathon, only those who are able to show-up on race day and cross the finish line receive a finisher medal. We realize that often times there are conflicts that coincide with our race day festivities. However, we cannot make individual exceptions. If a child is unable to attend, he or she will still receive a t-shirt, race bib and goody bag, along with the incentives that are distributed during the year.

Registration Fee:
Please call 314.727.0800.


* Read, Right & Run Marathon® is a trademark event for the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon, Inc. and may not be copied or duplicated in any manner without the express written consent of the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon management.